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UNCLE NATHAN; 



OR, 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD 



IN :,:• 

HIS WORD. 



For this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness of the truth.. 

Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice Ye shall know 

the truth, and the truth shall make you free. — Jksus. 

"What is truth ? — Pilatb. 



V 



PRINTED BY BALLOU & LOVELANB. 
1854. 







Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, 

By rev. SAMUEL MARSH, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Vermont. 



RECOMMEJVDATIOJVS, 

BY REV. MESSRS. 

RANSLOW, WOODWARD AND SANDS. 



Having heard the Rev. S. Marsh read a manuscript styled 
by him, '* Uncle Nathan ; or, Strict Agreement with God in 
his Word " ; I am free to say that I was very much interest- 
ed and edified ; — wliile the subjects discussed in the above 
treatise are confessedly of the highest importance, and should 
command the attention of all at all times ; there are many 
reasons why they should be brought before the community at 
the present time. In my opinion, Mr. Marsh's manuscript 
proposes to do this in a manner novel and striking and origi- 
nal, and if published, I think will provoke inquiry, and serve 
to promote the truth of God. 

GEO. W, RANSLOW, 

Pastor of the Congregational Church. 

Georgia, Vt., Nov. 24, 1853. 



Westford, Dec. 26, 1853. 
Bro. Marsh : 

Since you left my house, I have thought much of 
the manuscript you read to me, entitled, Uncle Nathan ; or, 
Strict Agreement with God in his Word. 

The subjects treated, it appears to me, were well selected, 
and of great importance to a sound and manly piety. Their 



IV RECOMMENDATIONS. 

consideration is loudly called for in this day of growing laxity 
in doctrine and practice. 

Your mode of presenting them is somewhat novel, and is 
calculated to gain attention. 

Some of your representations, at first view, appear over- 
wrought ; but, on reflection, I am confident, in some locali- 
ties, they are even surpassed in actuality. 

Your style is strong and nervous, — it has no redundancy of 
herbage and flowers. 

Many of your arguments are new, and for the most part ex- 
ceedingly conclusive^ 

I think the work calculated to do good, and hope it will 
^nd way to the public. 

Your Brother in Christ, 

J. H. WOODWARD. 



Rev. Samuel Marsh has read to me the manuscript of a 

work entitled, '* Uncle Nathan " ; and I think that under its 

present garb, it cannot fail to attract attention to the subjects 

therein brought to view ; the characters are delineated ' to 

the life.- 

J. D. SANDS. 



|ntr0ktt0r2 "^dttx 



TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. 



BY DR. JABEZ. 



Fathers, Mothers, Sisters and Brothers : 

From infancy to gray hairs, have I been 
familiarly acquainted with Uncle Nathan. 
What I write respecting him, is with reference 
to his work entitled, Strict Agreement with God 
in his Wordj which he has read to me once 
and again. 

It has been said that ' dreams go by contra- 
ries ' ; but. Uncle Nathan has often told me 
that it is not so with his^ judging by the es- 
sence^ without much regard to the form. This 
peculiarity is often quite manifest in the pres- 
ent work ;— the dreams are somewhat allegor- 
ical, and, occasionally, are related in figura- 
tive language. 

From a child, by experience and observa- 
tion, among all sorts of people, Uncle Nathan 
has been so intent to " prove all things,'' to 
find out what is good, that many imagined him 



6 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 

to be one '' ever learning, and never able to 
come to the knowledge of the truth." 

So little regarded was the presence of Uncle 
Nathan, that he was suffered to have a dis- 
tinct view of much, done here and there, that 
was very cautiously concealed from the nicely 
refined ; and such are apt to think that he 
overrates. He usually passed for '^ a bottle in 
the smoke "; but what he believed to be divine 
truth, he held dearer than life. He used to 
say, Error is bad enough in the sinner; — '^ one 
sinner destroyeth much good "; but the error 
of a saint has a still worse effect. Nathan said 
to David, " Thou hast given great occasion to 
the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.'' Tho' 
Uncle Nathan was accused of being sectarian, 
often did he cry out in anguish, " Is Christ 
divided?'' Alive flesh is pained by division. 
But so few sympathized with Uncle Nathan, 
that he often prayed to God to strike him out 
of existence ; for this, he blamed himself ; yet 
*' a wounded spirit who can bear ?" He had a 
* wounded spirit,' and its effects were visible 
in his person. In no ordinary strait, he once 
applied to the benevolent for aid, but was re- 
pulsed with this reply, — " You don't keep 
your shoes blacked. Mephibosheth — had nei- 
ther dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, 
nor washed his clothes, from the day the king 
departed, until the day he came again in 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 



peace.'' Zion's disguised Bridegroom was 
driven away by his spruce friends ; and Uncle 
Nathan fasted and mourned. He ardently- 
desired to see Christians united in the truth, 
and often said, The truth will not hurt the 
Christian ; and, till it kills the sinner, it will 
do him no good. (See Rom. 7 : 13.) 

Uncle Nathan saw many unionists, to whom 
he said, *'The wisdom that is from above is 
FIRST pure^ THEN peaceable '' — We should 
*^know the truth," and '^contend earnestly 
for the faith which was once delivered unto 
the saints" ; but, abstract argument is lifeless 
in our world, as abstract bodies4i of divinity 
abundantly manifest. 

My design, says Uncle Nathan, is not to 
show the amount of truth, or error ; of godli- 
ness, or ungodliness, found in any individual, 
or class named, or implied, in my work ; to 
specify : I don't undertake to decide whether 
more or less Arminianism exists among avow- 
ed Arminians, than actually obtains among 
professed Calvinists ; but simply to point out, 
and prove, as clearly as possible, '^the doc- 
trines of grace," and their legitimate effects, 
contrasted with various popular errors of the 
times, in principle and practice ; believing 
that in any way evading these points, is highly 
offensive to God. Though personality is by no 
means his aim ; yet he claims that tincle Na- 



8 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 

than^ including the dreams, is a matter-of-fact 
work ; and that he designs to sel|^t such per- 
sons, that represent classes^ as fairly show the 
genius of their several systems ; and that such 
persons abound, need not be proved to people 
acquainted with men. To all lovers of truth, 
he appeals, " I speak as unto wise men, judge 
ye what I say. — Watch ye, stand fast in the 
faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all 
your things be done with charity, — that rejoic- 
eth in the truth." Said he. If a Jael has a 
nail to drive, her strength is not to sit still ; 
but she hits^ Hits, HITS the nail on the head, 
with a liamw^er. " The words of the Mdse are 
as goads, and as nails fastened by the mas- 
ters of assemblies, which are given from one 
Shepherd." If we have got to this, that Truth 
holding the first rank above, must not be al- 
lowed by her friends to come forth as she is, 
alive, in her own person ;~-if Christ's '' sons 
of thunder " must shut their mouths, and not 
declare to the people their transgressions, in 
words that breathe life, and death, as circum- 
stances require ; then will the saints of the 
Most High be crushed and kept down, till 
these evil times are changed for the better ; 
for, however much errorists cripple the minis- 
try of Jehovah, and their influence is most of 
all crippling ; Aaron's rod, as such, now is 
not known to mortals, only as it swallows up 



INTRODUCTOEY LETTER. 9 

that of every magician. '^ Now as Jannes and 
Jambres withstood Moses," so do errorists 
*^ also resist the truth;" but the 'Bishop of 
souls' saith to his confiding ministers, " I will 
give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your 
adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor re- 
sist." When was such ' a mouth and wisdom ' 
ever more needed than now ? from Him who 
is with his people ' alway, even unto the end of 
the world.' As He is ever the same, in word 
and deed, his language still is, "According to 
your faith, be it unto you." 

Uncle Nathan maintains, that Giant Error- 
ist, according to his own principles, from in- 
fancy, is uncircumcised^ unwarranted as to hav- 
ing life eternal^ one, or both ; for, he adopts a 
single, or double alternative, as he likes best ; 
and he is ever publicly or privately blasphem- 
ing the God of infant Israel ' circumcised with 
the circumcision of Christ ' — (calling those 
things which be not as though they were ) — 
predestinated to eternal salvation, chosen from 
a world called by flattering names, from " holy 
Catholic," down to free-thinking worshippers 
of no God at all,— blaspheming such a God of 
Israel, as being 'worse than the devil;' yet 
he is ever crying, '^ Is it peace ? Is it peace ? 
Jehu, Is IT PEACE ?" The Lord overhears and 
replies, ''Think not that I am come to send 
peace on earth ; I came not to send peace, 



10 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 

but a sword." Errorists, in their last extrem- 
ity, knock as for life, but in vain, at- the door 
of the Infinite Witness for truth, saying, 
"Lord, Lord, open unto us." — ''The Lord, 
whose name is Jealous," has said, '' Surely in 
the fire of my jealousy have I spoken." For 
the truth that he has spoken, he is jealous, 
hotly jealous, when his truth is changed into a 
lie. Elijahs also are '' very jealous for the 
Lord God of hosts " ; and over such as have 
** Christ divided," a Paul is jealous '' with 
godly jealousy." 

Our absolute dependence on God, and our 
moral agency. Uncle Nathan takes for granted, 
saying, that additional proof of them is out of 
the question, till the sun can be seen more 
clearly by the dim light of earth, than in its 
own bright effulgence. The good fruit, more 
or less, that is found stuck on to the deadly 
Upas of error, never grows there ; but is sto- 
len from some tree of Paradise. The tree is 
known by the fruit that it bears. Planters 
abound, like the gods of the heathen ; but One 
alone plants the trees of Eden, that live and 
bear good fruit forever ; as the Son implicitly 
assures us, " Every plant which my heavenly 
Father hath not planted shall be rooted up " ; 
— His plants will all be guarded as well as his 
throne, ' world without end.' 

To the erring, God has said, ''Thine own 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 11 

wickedness shall correct thee, and thy back- 
slidings shall reprove thee " ; and one whom 
He sent as a reprover, said, " Ah, Lord God, 
behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child"; but 
he was needed, and he must go and reprove. 
Errorists, high or low, are not to be treated by 
old or young, as a real, sanctified good, or ne- 
cessary evil ; by the righteous clad in divine 
panoply, errorists should be met soldierly. 
Uncle Nathan holds that true Religion comes 
to us on divine authority, and demonstration, 
combined ; and that the love of demonstrated 
truth of God, is inborn in the Christian. Much 
has been said to Uncle Nathan against making 
efforts to have men understandingly united in 
the truth ; many have told him, that almost ev- 
ery errorist is sunk so deep in the mire, that you 
can reach no more than his head ; yet, if you at- 
tempt to pull him out by the ears, that he will 
call you a savage ; and the sympathizing will 
swarm around him, like the locusts of Egypt. 
The question with Uncle Nathan, is. What is 
duty ? If the force of a strong man is not 
right ; first bind him ; then, you can spoil his 
house. Should he baffle you, plough with his 
favorite heifer, till you find out his riddle, and 
where his great strength lieth ; but when he 
is shorn of his strength, don't put out his 
eyes ; for he is too blind already ; nor cause 
him to grind in the prison-house. Feed him 



12 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 

well, and let him go to the Best of all Mas- 
ters. Jehovah's truth, like himself, changes 
not, and possesses the power of celestial fire ; 
and He makes '^ his ministers a flame of fire," 
that withal they may effectually meet errorists, 
many of whom are said to have better hearts 
than heads ; but Uncle Nathan avers that hav- 
ing their hearts always in heaven, would be, 
to their heads, no little advantage. 

As it is known that Wesley adopted the 
leading sentiments of Arminius, Uncle Nathan 
understands most, if not all, the Methodists to 
glory in Arminianism ; but, by friends and 
enemies, the great Witness for evangelical 
truth has been called a Nazarene^ and ''the 
doctrines of grace " caWed Calvinism; yet this 
does not make Nazareth heaven, nor Calvin an 
oracle to his friends, as many have imagined. 
Uncle Nathan believes that Calvinism, as a 
name, has been used too much, to be hastily 
laid aside, unless the system is proved to be 
false. Of falsehood, men may well be asham- 
ed. 

Often did Uncle Nathan ask, '' Is any sor- 
row like unto my sorrow ?" in the abuse that 
he received, in his efforts to have Christians 
''perfectly joined together in the same mind, 
and in the same judgment." 

Truth has long been in bondage ; and Uncle 
Nathan expects that Error will reign, till Truth 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 13 

is openly crowned. By some, he has been re- 
garded as adhering to his tenets too closely ; 
— if any dislike his positions, he fervently im- 
plores them, before rejecting^ fairly to disprove 
his positions, and demonstrate their own ; but 
he has ever perceived that the more error re- 
sembles the truth, the more dangerous ; yet 
the more unwilling are most men to have such 
error detected. Far from being out of date, is 
that Oracle which saith, ^'A wonderful and 
horrible thing is committed in the land ; the 
prophets prophecy falsely, and the priests bear 
rule by their means ; and my people love to 
have it so ; and what will ye do in the end 
thereof?" Not by a new revelation ; but in 
understanding and obeying the one that we 
have ; " They," saith the Lord, '^ shall be my 
people, and I will be their God ; and I will 
give them one hearty and one way^ that they 
may fear me forever, for the good of them, and 
of their children after them ; — I will give 
them one hearty and one ivay^'' is divinely akin 
to '' They shall be my people^ and I will be 
their God.'' 

Little errors indulged are like little foxes 
spoiling fruitful vines ; and in opposition to 
pernicious error, Grod has given his omnipotent 
truth to be understood, proclaimed and obeyed 
under the whole heaven,— for his own glory, 
and the best good of men ; and sadly ^ by con- 



14 INTB.ODUCTORY LETTER. 

traries' do they go, who dream that the Mil- 
lennial will connive at bigotry, or at libertin- 
ism ; and such as palm ofF their chaff as being 
the good wheat of Christ's garner, are in no 
little danger of being burnt up themselves. 

Uncle Nathan says that when he was on a 
mission principally among French Catholics, 
many a one of them said to him, '^ Your reli- 
gion good for you^ but not good for me'' ; that 
multitudes of Protestants appear to him to act 
on much the same principle. Error is confes- 
sedly bad, and it is superabundant ; for the 
legions of religious antagonists are without 
number, and but one of two opposite senti- 
ments can be right' ; yet both may be wrong. 
Still, men covet error as eagerly as though it 
were good for the erroneous. Uncle Nathan 
claims that his uniform design is to follow the 
precept, " Nothing extenuate, nor set down 
aught in malice." Eeligious error, he says, 
is, really, a caricature on religion ; and to car- 
icature a caricature, is unwise and unprofita- 
ble. At all events, says Uncle Nathan, we 
should meet error as it is, yielding to no slav- 
ish fear, and using no flattery ; but this re- 
quires no little firmness, for the genius of error 
is usually much worse than its abettors are 
willing to own ; and the genius, the reality, is 
the main thing in question. 

Uncle Nathan says his Calvinism is, that 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 15 

God never designed wholly to shut the flood- 
gates of sin, — that from eternity His whole 
plan was complete, including moral agency, 
with all its actual consequences ; — that He is 
not the Author of sin ; — that He does what is 
best on the whole, and is unjust to none, satis- 
fies the reasonable ; — that man is not wise 
enough to deci(|e that God could, or could not, 
keep sin out of a universe of moral agents ; 
and for man to act as though he were God's 
counsellor, is the part of a fool ; — that using 
such a phrase as moral inability^ is not neces- 
sary, or expedient; — that Arminianism would 
make God wait, in the order of nature, so 
called, and see what is done by angels and 
men ; then He must act according to circum- 
stances : but that Jesus, the divine Uniter, 
withal, ever to be obeyed, makes no comprom- 
ise with error. If such as we call errorists, 
are right, why not yield to them at once, and 
not fight against God ? but, if they are wrong, 
we should know that Christ has classed his 
words with himself; (Lu. ix. 26,) and of both^ 
once for all, he has warned us not to be asham- 
ed ; and his words are what they mean; and 
their meaning is that, and that only, which 
will bear the most thorough examination of 
friends and enemies forever. 

The subtle being avowedly as honest as the 
villain, lago, with cloaked artifice, misguide 



16 INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 

the unwary ; and when charged home, it is 
gravely evaded, or flatly denied ; therefore, 
Uncle Nathan thinks best, as may be often 
seen in his work, (using a plain figure,) that a 
hunter should not put pursuers on the devious 
track of a crafty fox in plain sight ; but send 
them straight forward till they catch Renard ; 
thus, the deviation of his track shortens the 
distance gone over to take him: 

The influence of woman^ in her sphere^ says 
Uncle Nathan, is unbounded ; and for this 
reason, she holds a prominent place in his 
work. He also aims at Scriptural unity and 
variety; saying, God sends, by his servants, 
here a little, and there a little, to reach the 
hearts of the people. 

Some may deem Uncle Nathan ^^rude in 
speech": — if he is not rude in knowledge, his 
main purpose is gained ; and if the rudeness 
of calling things by their right names is un- 
pardonable, when will error begin to be ban- 
ished ? Will Satan banish himself ? 

The first reason given in favor of millennial 
martyrs^ is, that they were beheaded ^'for the 
witness of Jesus, and for the word of God '' — 
i. e., because they spread divine truth; and the 
amount of the last reason, in plain English, is, 
that they had not embraced the principles, or 
adopted the practices of Romanists ; thus fly- 
ing errorists the most imperious. Therefore, 



INTRODUCTORY LETTER. 17 

Uncle Nathan avers that the doctrines most 
hated by such errorists, are the ones proclaim- 
ed by real martyrs, who, withal, antagonise 
against Popery, though disguised^ never adopt- 
ing what is pilfered from that corrupt system, 
and called by some softer name ; then, mis- 
take not filchers of Romanism for staid friends 
of millennial martyrs. 

When Uncle Nathan prayed for compromise 
among various ecclesiastical denominations 
called evangelical, he found not his prayers 
answered ; and he inferred that hindrance of 
religious investigation is by no means heaven- 
ly. He says he has long been more and more 
deeply convinced that the present crisis de- 
mands the unshrinking spirit of John the be- 
headed, in the desperate struggle between the 
plausible, changeful, pre-millennial demon of 
Error, and the spirit of millennial Truth — on 
the plan that he heard the wise Dr. Cornel 
expressly approve, — that of '' hot prudence '%• 
and that he has many strong reasons to believe 
multitudes of Christians have long been pray- 
ing for essentially, this forthcoming work hold- 
ing up truth and error to the light, so that one 
should not often be mistaken for the other. 

J. JABEZ. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



CHAP. I. 

Page. 
Know-so ; and interview of Uncle Nathan with Bishop Good- 
enough .... .... .... .... .... 21 

CHAP. II. 
Beauties of Sect; a Perishable Religion, and Election a Home 

Doctrine 26 

CHAP. m. 

Our Creed like our Standard of Judging ; and the Religion of 

Christ not a sham .... .... 28 

CHAP IV„ 
True Religion how lost, if lost at all; and a look at this and 

that " Home." 33 

CHAP. V. 
Need of Backsliders .... .... .... 38 

CHAP. VI. 
A Peep behind the Curtain. .... .... .... .... 40 

CHAP. VII. 
Old and New. ." 53 

CHAP. VIH. 

Strength of a Child C5 

CHAP. IX. 

No Union between Fire and Water .... .... .... 87 

CHAP. X. 

Moderate Calvinism, — by some called a Rare Case. .. .... 101 



20 CONTENTS. 



CHAP. XL 

Union of New and Old leaven attempted; and Sectarian Fruit 
Bitter 110 

CHAP. XII. 
Woman not made in Vain. (To be Concluded.) .... .... 114 

CHAP. xrii. 

A Beast that never had a Head of his Own 127 

CHAP. XIV. 

Eflfort to save Submersion from Drowning ; and Woman not made 

in Vain. (Concluded.) .... .... 131 

CHAP. XV. 

Simon described ; and Arminianism recommended. . . .... 160 

CHAR XVI. 
Arminianism not the Thing Needed. .... .... .... 162 

CHAP. XVII. 
Antinomianism without a Cloak ; and Kindred Spirits. .... 168 

CHAP. XVIII. 
Congregationalism the only Scriptural Church Organization. . . 183 

CHAP XIX. 
Sympathetic llegret ; and alleged Happy Death of a Rich Man. 187 

CHAP. XX. 
Waiting God's Time; Sundries, and Old Bill of Kights 206 



CHAPTER I. 

KNOW SO ; AND INTERVIEW OF UNCLE NATHAN 
WITH BISHOP GOODENOUGH. 



In a dream. Uncle Nathan heard Bishop 
Goodenough preach to a host of young minis- 
ers, from 1 John 2: 20: ''Ye know all 
things.'' After a fine introduction, the Bishop 
said. My young brethren, in what I am about 
to do, expect not to see the beggarly clad in 
the vestments of royalty. Ye know that Ar- 
minianism, from its origin, has been the antag- 
onist of Calvinism, which is from perdition, 
and has driven more souls to ruin than Unver- 
salism or Infidelity ; for it necessarily carries 
reprobation in its bosom, and therefore should 
be treated as reprobate forever. Ye know 
that God could not act on the plan of personal 
predestination, without destroying moral agen- 
cy ; and agreeably to our greatest Doctors 
raised up to doctor Calvinism to death, and 
make our ' never-sick divinity ' immortal ; — 
that in effect, men must control divine elec- 



22 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

tion, to have it managed right. Some of our 
Doctors teach* that the Omniscient does not, 
really, know all things ; and as a substitute 
for some things that He might know, He has 
invented the scales of '' Contingency,'" which 
one man turns to his own damnation, and 
another, to his endless salvation. Other of 
our Doctors maintain that Avith Jehovah all is 
'^ETERNAL NOW"; hut in fact, we uni< 
versally have God look on and see how men 
act ; then, in the order of nature, elect accor- 
dingly, pro and con, to please Free Will ; if 
He foreknew any as His, it must be on the 
plan that a Calvinist might call jf^o^Z-destina- 
tion ; that is, making the destination, or 
election, subsequent, in the order of nature, 
to the action of our gracious ability, a pow- 
er that you are all conscious of possessing. 
You know the Calvinist understands " worketh 
all things after the counsel of his oivn will," to 
mean "foreordains tvhatsoever comes to pass "; 
but we hold that the most important part of 
this wondrous plan is devised in time by our 
Free Will, God helping ; but our Will having 
chosen life, may leave it, and choose death ; 
still, to tell the truth, we show our fear to trust 
the Almighty with a staff so dangerous as per- 
sonal predestination. If not by experience, 
yet by observation, you know that numbers of 
our people who were once the children of God, 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 23 

afterward have become the children of the dev- 
il ; agreeably to our Doctrinal Tracts. (True.') 
One dangerous method of losing religion, is 
that of doubting it away ; and I need not tell 
you that we have often rallied CaLvinists for 
not being free from doubt respecting their adop- 
tion. 

Backsliders abound ; if we preach according 
to their experience^ multitudes will give us an 
earnest hearing. Stirring up gracious ability, 
and reclaiming backsliders wdio have lost their 
religion, is the usual and best way of com- 
mencing a revival. (Amen. Glory to God.) 

You know our lips must be sweeter than the 
honey-comb, and w^e must have it ^vell under- 
stood that men can no more think alike, than 
they can look alike ; and that Arminians and 
Calvinists " agree to disagree'' Open hostility 
is, usually, bad policy. According to Scrip- 
ture, to speak as we act, we must be of those 
that '' by peace shall destroy many ; — enter 
peaceably even upon the fattest places"; — 
build our chapels under the eaves of Calvin- 
ism; — " build upon another man's foundation." 
Who has a better right? {None. Glory to 
God!) 

A dead man, and his WTitings, being the 
same, you know, Father Wesley raised Armin- 
ius from the dead, and clothed him with such 
power as a leader, that Wesley told his follow- 



24 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

ers, ' Should one third of them go back to the 
Calvinists ; another third, fall from grace ; the 
remaining third would carry Arminian Metho- 
dism down to the end of time.' The sun nev- 
er sets on Methodism. (Glory to God.) 

Some call Father Wesley very crafty. He 
was amazingly sage. ''Be ye therefore wise 
as serpents : '' and as soon as we attain perfec- 
tion, like Wesley, we shall be as '' harmless as 
doves." — Seeing then that we have such hope, 
we use great plainness of speech. ^ — Ye know 
all things "; but ye do not know enough to 
''mend our rules." Mark well what I say. 
As ye regard the favor of God, of Father 
Wesley, and of your Bishops, " Do not mend 
our rules, but keep them "; as saith our orac- 
ular Discipline. (A thundering Amen, that 
waked up Uncle Nathan.) 

Not long after the dream of hearing the ser- 
mon, " Ye know all things," Uncle Nathan 
was introduced to the Bishop ; and after some 
conversation, he inquired. Did God make all 
^men look alike ? 

Bish, — No. 

Uncle N. — If God did not make all to think 
alike, why did He give us the same Bible, 
and require us to " be perfectly joined togeth- 
er in the same mind, and in the same judg- 
ment ? " 

Bish. — Hem. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 25 

Uncle N. — Does Christ agree to have some 
of his ministers preach Calvinism, and others, 
Arminianism ? 

Bish. — Heigh ho. Christ never agreed to 
have any body preach Calvinism. 

Uncle JV. — '' To him that knoweth to do 
good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin ; " 
then, according to Scripture, Is he a murder- 
er, who sees, within reach, a drowning child 
die, and does not save it ? 

Bish. — To be sure. 

Uncle N. — Why then find fault with Calvin- 
ism, till, consistently with Arminianism, you 
show why Grod created any who. He knew or 
might have known, would be lost forever ? 

Bish. — That is a question of your own ask- 
ing. Good bye. 



CHAPTER II. 



BEAUTIES OF SECT ; A PERISHABLE RELIGION, 
AND ELECTION A HO.ME DOCTRINE. 



Soon afterward, the Bishop preached to a 
mixed and large congregation, from Rev. 4:3. 
'^ There was a rainbow round about the throne.'' 
Among other things, he spoke like an angel, 
of the celestial rainbow of good denominations, 
with its wonderfully variegated hues rivalling 
the beauties of Paradise, let down from high 
heaven to earth, attracting glorified saints and 
angels downward, till their supernal abode was 
nearly deserted. The Bishop warned all, that 
as the brightest rainbow might pass away soon 
after a shower, so the best of them might lose 
their religion ; that more than once, he had 
lost his own, and was much afraid he should 
lose it again, and possibly forever. As many 
wept, the Bishop gave backsliders^ especially, 
an opportunity to speak ; then sung a stanza 
ending with 

*' Speaking may relieve jou." 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 27 

A shrewd man, considered as being of conse- 
quence, but having little regard to propriety, 
arose and said, The Bishop is presumed to 
know whether he has nothing better than ^per- 
ishable religion ; if he has nothing better, he 
is certainly very honest to oivn it ; and sat 
down. 

The Bishop manifested some uneasiness ; 
and after meeting, he searched till he found 
Uncle Nathan ; and earnestly inquired, Why 
is it that your election does not commend itself 
to the conscience, in the sight of God ? 

Uncle N. — You know your Elder Hopewell? 

Bish. — Yes. 

Uncle N. — Well, a brother of mine was en- 
gaged in a revival, Avhere the Elder, to get a 
foothold, pursued my brother, day after day, 
to dispute on election. At hist, he found my 
brother conversing with some young people 
weeping in view" of their sins. The Ehjer re- 
peatedly interrupted. At length my brother 
went to him, put his hand on him, and looked 
at him with grave earnestness, and said. Sir, 
if you have been t7^iily converted, God con- 
verted you, and you will not deny it ; if God 
converted you, He designed to convert you, and 
you fear to disow^n it ; if God meant to convert 
you, He always meant to convert you, and 
you cannot disprove it ; and if w^e are so 
happy as to reach heaven, I hope to be able 



28 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

to give thanks to '* Grod, who hath saved us 
and called us with an holy calling, not accord- 
ing to our works, but according to his own 
purpose and grace which was given us in 
Christ Jesus, before the world began''; and 
in heaven^ will you dispute with me on elec- 
tion ? 



CHAPTER m. 



OUR CREED LIKE OUR STANDARD OP JUDGING ; 
AND THE RELIGION OF CHRIST NOT A SHAM. 

Bishop Goodenough, evidently wishing to 
change the subject, inquired. Why have chil- 
dren of the same heavenly Father, views so 
different respecting what that Father has re- 
vealed ? 

Uncle Nathan replied : I apprehend it is 
owing mainly to the difference between the 
standards according to which they interpret 
the Scriptures. Christ said to the Scribes and 
Pharisees, *' Thus have ye made the command- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 29 

ment of God of none effect by your tradition. '* 
So the Church of Rome, according to the 
Council of Trent, says, '' The truth and dis- 
cipline of the Catholic Church are comprehend- 
ed both in the sacred books and in the tradi- 
tions^ which have been received from the 
mouth of Jesus Christ himself, or of his Apos- 
tles, and which have been preserved and trans- 
mitted to us, by an uninterrupted chain and 
succession." 

Bish. — You forget that we are Protestants. 

Uncle N. — Our interpretation shows our real 
standard, whatever we may profess. 

Bish. — Your rigid w^ay of interpreting the 
Bible shocks the Universalist, the Infidel, the 
Atheist. 

Uncle iV. — Not so with your way. 

Bish, — I don't wonder tha.t some call you 
a dragon. 

Uncle N. — Nor I, considering who they are. 

Bish. — Were I sure of heaven, I would sin, 
for a while, with a vengeance. 

Uncle N. — Were I sure of heaven, I would 
strive, as at present, to serve Christ to the 
best of my ability. Did Jesus sin with a ven- 
geance, because he was sure of heaven ? 

Bish. — Not at all. 

Uncle N. — " If any man have not the Spi- 
rit of Christ,"— what then ? 

Bish. — The Governor is waiting for me. 



30 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

As Uncle Nathan went on, a young physi- 
cian hailed him, saying, Uncle Nathan, I have 
tried your religion, and found it all a sham. 

Uncle N. — How do you know ? 

Phys. — 0, the Bishop, and all, pronounced 
me converted ; they said that I appeared the 
best of any they ever knew. Do you think, 
when I had religion, I was such a fool as not 
to know it ? Bat it was all nothing, though I 
knew my sins were forgiven ; my joy was un- 
speakable, and I was fall of glory. I was 
ready to die. Are you ? I know I was bet- 
ter than the best of you. 

Uncle N. — Why did you not so remain ? 
But would an honest blind man, whose eyes 
had ever been opened to see the sun, after- 
wards call it a sham ? Had your eyes ever 
been opened to behold the '' Sun of Righte- 
ousness," you would never call it a sham^ 
would yoa ? 

Phys. — In what direction shall I look for 
that San ? 

Uncle N. — To divine revelation. 

Phys^ — With Scripture, like most of your 
professors, I have had so little to do, that I 
should need no pope to convert me and make 
me a good Catholic. 

U?icle N. — No wonder that you lost your 
destructible religion. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 31 

Phys. — I am not so bad as you imagine, for 
I love Arminian preaching as well as ever. 

Uncle N. — Long ago, the Savior said that 
*^the world would love his own.'' 

Phys, — Do you mean to deny that Bishop 
Goodenough is a Christian ? 

Uncle N. — I mean that I have no confidence 
in Arminianism, as the way to heaven. 

Phys. — As is said of Universalism, Armini- 
anism is a cheering system, in this world. 

Uncle N. — How so ? 

Phys, — On the principle that '' he who is a 
child of God to-day, may be a child of the 
devil to-morrow ''; for eternity , our bliss or 
woe may depend wholly on our last moral act 
in probation ; and whether there is to be a 
tophet hereafter, or not, I design that my last 
act on earth shall be good. 

Uncle N. — Then, to make sure work, live 
as though each deed were your last. 

Phys. — Should I do so for a hundred years, 
and fail of grace in my last act, my labor to 
gain heaven would all be lost; therefore, by 
anticipation withal, I prefer to concentrate all 
my powers in my last effort. 

Uncle N, — To me, your Arminian prospect 
would be more cheerless than death, which, 
when least expected, seizes the unprepared. 

Phys. — You see, by Calvinistic witnesses, 
Arminianism is proved to be a sham, and the 



32 UNCLE NATHAN. 



same is proved against Calvinism, by Armini- 
an witnesses. 

Uncle N. — In heart, and life, obeying Jeho- 
vah, is the way to understand what he teaches. 

PA7/5.— Should he teach Calvinism, I would 
reject it, come life, or death. 

Uncle N. — So your mind is enmity against 
such a God. 

Phys. — I can have my will free, and wor- 
ship the God of nature ; then I shall know 
that I am right. 

Uncle iV^.— The God of the Bible is the God 
of nature, as far as it extends ; but nature 
alone has no salvation for sinners ; and you 
complain bitterly of wrong-doing among men ; 
and as the God of nature, and of Scripture, is 
undivided, in rejecting Him, you render your- 
self obnoxious to the vengeance of nature's 
Sovereign, who smites when he will, and that 
once for all, causing endless ruin. 

Phys. — You hold that God is '' undivided ''; 
then, if I adore the God of nature, that is suf- 
ficient, is it not ? 

Uncle N. — By no means. Human rulers are 
men; but they scorn to be treated as men 
merely, when they should be acknowledged as 
rulers. Your vocation would avail nothing, 
should you never be employed as a doctor. 

Phys. — Excuse me ; I must now visit a 
patient. 



CHAPTER IV. 



TRUE RELIGION HOW LOST, IF LOST AT ALL ; AND 
A LOOK AT THIS AJSD THAT HOME. 



As Uncle Nathan was visiting from house to 
house, in a revival, he found an amiable, in- 
telligent young lady overwhelmed with des- 
pair. She said that she had lost her religion. 
In vain had she searched for enjoyment^ another 
name for life; and nowhere could she find it. 
Said Uncle Nathan to her. If you were ever a 
Christian, your enjoyment, your life, once for 
all, has been hid in Christ. ''For ye are 
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, 
then shall ye also appear with him in glory.'' 
Soon after, the young lady told Uncle Nathan 
that she had found her life hid in Christ ; and 
she was rejoicing in him with joy unspeakable. 

Bishop Goodenough having heard how the 
young lady found her lost religion, said to Un- 
cle Nathan, Once for all, Balaam, king Saul, 



34 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

and Judas lost their religion ; and that David 
lost his, and found it again, you cannot deny. 

Uncle N. — The Arminian clinging to Ba- 
laam, ''who loved the wages of unrighteous- 
ness," — teking Saul, whom God gave Israel 
(Hos. 13 : 10, 11) in anger, and took him 
away in wrath, — to Judas, withal " the son of 
perdition," is like the drowning grasping each 
other. Why, as far as I learn, Arminians 
usually select David as having lost his religion, 
rather than Peter, who, as a perjurer, denied 
his Lord before men, I know not, unless they 
sympathize more deeply with Uriah than with 
the Son of God. But Christ's j/ra^^r, always 
effectual, may be in their way ; and his prayer 
is offered for all whom he claims as his own. 
Jesus said to Peter, '' I have prayed for thee 
that thy faith fail not"; and to the Father, 
"I knew that thou hearest me always"; 
again, *' I pray for them which thou hast giv- 
en me ; for they are thine. All mine are 
thine, and thine are mine." Had David and 
Peter lost their religion ; according to Heb* 
6 : 4-6, and 10 : 26, 27, it would have been 
impossible for them ever to find it again, only 
as the young lady lost and found hers. Sir, 
your doctrine that regenerate souls have fallen 
from grace, cannot easily be proved. 

Bish. — You know that God always means 
precisely what he says ; and in our Doctrinal 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 35 

Tract on " Predestination Calmly Considered/' 
is the following paragraph : — 

Gal. 5 : 4 — '' Ye are fallen from grace." 

Uncle N, — Unless the express intent of that 
paragraph is to proselyte the unwary, why is 
not enough quoted to exhibit the true design 
of the passage ? — as, " Whosoever of you are 
justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace "; 
and Gal. 3 : 11, " But that no man is justified 
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident ; 
for the just shall live by faith." Now, I wish 
to ask this question, Does your church require 
evidence of godliness as indispensable to church 
membership ? 

Bish, — In our Discipline, we use churchy 
and society, as synonymous ; and say, Our '' so- 
ciety is no other than a company of men having 
the form and seeking the power of godli- 
ness,'' 

U?icle N. — God tells of those '^having a 
form of godliness, but denying the power 
thereof." 

Bish, — We, having the form of godliness, 
seek the power, instead of denying it ; and 
thus we get religion. 

Uncle N. — That was my first way of getting 
ic, and more than once, I verily believed that 
I had it ; and I know of none that doubted the 
truth of my word on the subject ; but soon, I 
lost it all. 



36 UNCLE NATHAN; OR, 

Bish. — From all I can learn, had yoa joined 
the class at that time, I doubt not but that 
you would have proved to be a real, good 
Methodist. 

Uncle N. — I will join the class when, with- 
out Arminian spectacles, I see Paul made an 
Arminian proselyte. 

The Bishop, raising his spectacles to the top 
of his high forehead, said. Without spectacles, 
I see clearly that Paul has ever been an Ar- 
minian. 

Uncle N. — Removing every false medium 
from the eyes of the mindy is a matter of no 
small importance. 

Bish, — Allow me to expect you to use no 
indirection, but practice your usual plain deal- 
ing. 

Uncle N. — I will aim to comply with your 
request ; yet, for so doing, I shall expect that 
you will make me a mark for your Arminian 
thunderbolts. 

Bish. — If so, whenever you plead for quar- 
ters, you shall be welcome to our Arminian 
refuge, here and hereafter. 

Uncle iV. — To multitudes, Arminian cour- 
tesy is not a little enchanting. 

Bish. — To all escaping from the gloom of 
doomed Calvinism, we ofler no common Para- 
dise. 

Uncle N. — Should men lose by leaving their 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 37 

Paradise for yours, I suppose you would not 
like to be responsible for the consequences. 

Bishop. — You know tliey could unite on 
trmU and leave^ say, at the end of six months. 

Uncle N, — Adam and Eve united on trial, 
and it is reported that they left at the close of 
a limited period. 

Bish, — Not often do our best ones leave us. 

Uncle iV. — Not all such, at the end of six 
months ; yet the emphatically leaving princi- 
ple is fundamental in your system., as it was in 
that first adopted, on earth, by mother Eve ; 
however, '' the woman being deceived," is 
some palliation of her crime. 

Bish. — I must now fulfill an appointment. 

At the close of a protracted union meeting, 
Bishop Goodenough advised some hundreds of 
reclaimed backsliders, and new converts, to 
unite with churches, where each should find a 
home. The covetous and slothful found a home 
where they had least to do ; the ambitious, 
where they could govern ; the vain, where 
they v/ere flattered, and a precious few, where 
they found Christ, truth and duty. 

A fortnight afterward, the Bishop preached 
there, and said, In heaven^ the question will 
not be put requiring you to tell to what de- 
nomination you here belonged. 

A man having a red nose, clapped his hands, 
saying, God grant you may be right. They 



38 UNCLE NATHAN ; OK, 

say I belong to the hot denomination ; that is 
better than the lukewarm, bless the Lord ! — 
Now, hark ! a Christian here, will also be a 
Christian when he reaches heaven ! That #6 a 
truism ; but dividing Christ, for a living, is a 
very bad mark of a saint, any way ; — and, at 
the loud request of the Bishop, he sat down, 
saying, Last night, I dreamed that I died, and 
went to the gates of Paradise, and heard Peter 
say that it is unsafe to admit dividers of Chris- 
tians to heaven, because they are accustomed 
(see Rev. 21 : 27) to work abomination ; and 
like the Ethiopian, or leopard, they find it not 
easy changing their skin, or their spots. 



CHAPTER V. 

NEED OF BACKSLIDERS. 

Uncle Nathan heard that one Enos High- 
gate, having the charge of an orphan boy, 
murdered him to get his money ; and in the 
night he dreamed that Highgate was arraign- 
ed before a sort of ecclesiastical court, met at 



STRICT AGREE]\IENT WITH GOD. 39 

the call of discordant public opinion. Bishop 
Goodenough was there as his advocate, and 
pleaded, for Highgate, that though he had of- 
ten been a backslider, yet he was uniformly 
the first to be reclaimed in great revivals, 
where thousands had been converted to God ; 
— that lib could not be spared : that Esq. 
Abel, for the prosecution, argued that High- 
gate had no moral ability to refrain from the 
murder ; therefore, pleaded Mr. G., he should 
be acquitted. The Judge explained, that by 
moral ability^ Esq. Abel meant a disposition. 
Mr. Goodenough replied. Ability is ability^ in 
earth and heaven. 

The court found Highgate guilty of murder, 
but determined to deal with him according to 
Scripture ; and as marriage as revealed at 
firsts in Eden, is now our guide, so Highgate 
should be marked like Cain, the /.m murderer. 
Some said that God had put a mark on his 
conscience^ and that is sufficient ; others, that 
he must have a state-prison mark ; and divers, 
that wdth the contents of "a VvTiter's ink- 
horn," he should be marked on the '' fore- 
head,— lest any finding him sho^^d kill him "; 
but how large to make the mark, or what 
shape, they could not agree ; though Mr. 
Goodenough said, Hovj the mark should be 
made, is not essential ; let Highgate have his 
choice. Judge William Downer decided that 



40 , UNCLE KATHAN ; OR, 

like Cain, Higbgate sbould be marked all over; 
for, said be, So overwbelming was tbe mark 
upon Cain, tbat to tbe Lord be declared, 
" From tby face sball I be bid/' 

Uncle Natban seemed to see part of a band 
write tbus on tbe wdfl.1 : '' Tbe backslider in 
beart sball be filled witb bis own ways "; tbe 
clasbing of ecclesiastical politicians, and of tbe 
anti-political, is fast making a fool of public 
opinion. Tbese tilings are well known in 
Gratb, and call loudly for reform ; yet tbe faint- 
hearted are quaking, lest declaring a little too 
mucb trutb, sbould make infidels and atbeists ; 
but covershame does tbe miscbief witb a High- 
gate and bis confederates ; and ' Uncle 

Nathan is crazy ^^ exclaimed certain " people 
exceedins: wise." 



CHAPTER VI. 

A PEEP BEHIND THE CURTAIN. 



Uncle Naman dreamed, moreover, tbat 
Bishop Goodenough planned balf tbe night, 
and tbe other half, prayed to God to quicken 
the gracious ability that He has already giv- 
en ; and that the next day, the Bishop went 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 41 

to a great meeting ; but as no '' father High- 
gate " was there, the j^r^^ backslider was not 
reclaimed. Highgate was kept back for a 
while, but he did not stay reformed ; yet the 
mark on him caused him to be more highly 
regarded than ever before. 

Uncle Nathan wrote on a table of stone. 
Let it be remembered forever, that backsliding 
persons should be treated with the utmost ten- 
der faithfulness, and if possible, be recovered 
from ruin ; but backsliding systems should all 
be cast overboard. 

The Bishop said, I know what to do ; so he 
went and held meetings in the vicinity of Cal- 
vinists, and had great success. Many were 
added to the churches, who prayed as Calvin- 
istically as Calvin himself. 

Said an old man reputed as no?i compos men- 
tiSy Should Calvinism die, alas for Arminian- 
ism ! Excitement appears to be doing won- 
ders in these dull times. Though the Lorb 
was not in the wind, earthquake, or fire, for 
what did He send them before Him, but to 
arrest the attention of one who needed effec- 
tual rousing ? Had Calvinists done their duty, 
Arminianism would have been dead and buri- 
ed, long ago. As God sends the wind, fire 
and earthquake, they will not return void, but 
accomplish what was designed. 

An artless old woman overhearing the sim- 



42 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

piston, exclaimed. Children and fools always 
tell the truth. La ! in a revival among Ar- 
minians, at my request, they read 1 Kings, 
chap. 19th. I said not a word about an earth- 
quake, or anything else in the chapter ; but 
they reported all round that I stopped the re- 
vival. True, their revival ceased as soon as 
they began to stop some of their tumult. As 
Arminianism lacks sense, a world of excite- 
ment is necessary to give it seeming exalta- 
tion, of which Arminians afford abundant evi- 
dence of being fully conscious, however unwil- 
ling to own it. 

Bless your soul ! said another, their solem- 
nity is none of the deepest, or longest. Not a 
great while ago, in a revival, as they called it, 
one of their pet-ministers, for a long time, 
cried out so like a great baby, for the salvation 
of souls, as made many a heart ache, as tears 
told the tale ; and directly from this labor of 
love, he went out in a hurry, and w^histled at 
a great rate for his dog, for which he would 
not take, I think he said, a hundred dollars. 
I tell this anecdote as an example, though 
some say the truth is not to be spoken at all 
times. ^' Daniel was mourning three full 
weeks,'' — again he said, '' I set my face unto 
the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplica- 
tion, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes ; 
— confessing my sin, and the sin of my peo- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 



pie "; and Moses said, " I fell down before the 
Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty 
nights ; I did neither eat bread nor drink wa- 
ter, because of all your sins " — but the favor- 
ite dog of the pet-minister had a choice place 
in all but his cries for the salvation of sinners. 
The sanctified ones so reputed appear to me 
like children, that having performed their task, 
at once go to play. It may be Avell for the 
success of the hero oV" Uncle Tom's Cabin,'' 
that '' he got his religion at a camp-meeting," 
between 1820 and forty — " really did get it"; 
but such a conversion at a camp-meeting is 
somewhat extraordinary. Yet souls are truly 
converted at camp-meetings, and in many a 
w^hirlwind of excitement. So, immediately 
preceding the fall of Babylon the great, a voice 
from heaven will say, " Come out of her, my 
people." But one of the most horrible of the 
doctrines of apostates, is, that ''the end justi- 
fies the means." If we say, " Let us do evil 
that good may come," our '' damnation is 
just." It is evil to try to tempt God to bless 
that which usually proves ruinous ; and what 
do facts evince respecting tumultuous revivals '? 
I have seen ministers therein employed, so 
clap and rub their hands, that I thought I 
could see the sparks fly ; but alas for their 
converts, when they lose their electricity. 
On their way home, the Methodist landlord 



44 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

unwittingly conducted Bishop Goodenough and 
Elder Hopewell to the room adjoining the one 
where Uncle Nathan lodged for the night, and 
their talk kept him awake a great part of the 
time. The Bishop said, Elder ^ we have had 
glorious times, and have got a number of prom- 
ising young folks from Calvinist ministers' and 
deacons' families, that said they were tired out 
in hearing of a natural ability that is always 
made useless by a moral inability ; but to their 
unspeakable joy, they found that God has giv- 
en them a gracious ability to accept of salva- 
tion. Were it not for a certain few Calvinists 
of a peculiar stamp, w^e could soon sweep Cal- 
vinism from the earth. 

Elder if.— What of them ? 

Bish. — They plunge down into the pit of 
self-abasement before God, deep enough, were 
the pit filled with water, to drown all that 
breathe, in creation, — so deep, that you w^ould 
think no Calvinistic predestination could ever 
reach them. In an instant, their arms are 
longer than Jacob's ladder, reaching up to 
what w^ould be heaven, were they not sunk so 
unfathomably deep ; then they grasp the Sav- 
iour, and will not let him go. Their prayers 
are heard. They speak kindly to sinners, and 
unlike our dronish ones, coming forward to the 
altar as if they had lost half their gracious 
ability ; but as though all the thunders of Jeho- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 45 

vah were sounding in their ears, those sinners 
cry out, at once, as in the jaws of death, 
^' What must we do to be saved ?" The hand 
of God is on them, and they feel so helpless 
that they fall right into his hands ; yet in ac- 
tion, they are stronger than lions. To me, 
they are a mystery. But those Calvinists re- 
ally pray. When I hear them preach, in spite 
of my Arminianism, the indelible impression 
on my mind is that they preach Bible, for sub- 
stance, — that their quotations from Scripture 
don't make a blank, but are high prizes drawn 
just when and where required ; yet God has 
so made me, that from my inmost soul, I hate 
their infernal system ; therefore it cannot but 
be wrong. Still, they are invulnerable. They 
say that the control of election and perseverance^ 
is now the ruling work of salvation ; and if of 
man, that he is saved by ivorks, and may thus 
in truth glory before God. We shout glory, 
glory to God ! but this is not meeting their 
argument. Yet, as Arminians, we cannot, 
will not yield; for, as stated in our Doctrinal 
Tract on Free Grace, we still maintain that 
" the blasphemy clearly contained in the hor- 
rible decree of predestination — represents the 
most holy God as worse than the devil." 
Therefore w^e are in duty bound to hate a pre- 
destinating God accordingly. But taking this 
ground is not proving that Calvinists are wrong. 



46 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Their predestination, we charge with includ- 
ing reprobation in a sense that they deny ; yet 
in our " Free Grace," the position just pre- 
sented shows in what light we view and exhi- 
bit their system. They maintain that Calvin- 
istic moral agency avails quite as much as Ar- 
minian ; this, we deny, and suggest that most 
Calvinists are a tame set. For more than a 
hundred years, they enjoyed the opportunity, 
as an American colony, of having an establish- 
ed religion ; but let us have the opportunity — 
give us the power — then Calvinists would soon 
wish that they had never been born. 

Elder H. — Please explain a little. 

Bish. — ^Few know how much more we sym- 
pathize with dreaded Catholics than with CaU 
vinists; but on this, keep obscure for some 
time to come. Speak low^ as / do, and be 
sure not to open your mouth on this topic. 

Elder H. — Pray what do you mean ? 

Bish. — Should occasion, in church or state, 
require the choosing of sides, we should not 
side with the straitlaced, (But keep close 
lips.) 

Elder 11, — Do you expect a crisis, when the 
prowess of Arminians will be fully tested ? 

Bish. — I do ; and that crisis is much nearer 
than most imagine. 

Elder jy.— Then wo ! wo ! ! wo ! ! ! to the 
comparatively/^'?^ Calvinists ! 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 47 

Bish, — Let all in the universe say Amen^ 
and Amen ! 

Elder H. — You charged me to speak low. 

Bish. — A good cause requires zeal^ yes^ 
Zeal ! The mass of Calvinists have very weak 
sides ; and we often unite with them most lov- 
ingly, as the hawk, in her loay^ unites with 
less sagaciouS, or weaker birds, to feed her own 
brood. What we shall do with Calvinists hith- 
erto invincible^ remains to be seen in the com- 
ing crisis ; but for the present, I say, we can- 
not begin to defeat them, and we do better to 
keep out of their way. A fev/ Arminians of 
such pith, would convert the world sooner than 
the rest coulil ngree on a plan to eiiect it. 
But oar divine Christian Perlection makes us 
loathe Calvinism ; and this is not all. Did 
Arminianism admit Calvinistic depravity^ or 
Calvinistic regemratiGn^ it would require Cal- 
vinistic predestination^ to save sinners from 
guilt and ruin. Hence the futility of alleged 
Arminian and Calvinistic agreement on these 
fundamentals. What Calvinist believes in Ar- 
minian depravity ? and how much faith has he 
in destructible regeneration ? Yet our Armini- 
an LOVE is all but infinite ; did a predesti- 
nating God exist, we should rejoice to love 
him out of existence. 

In the morning, Elder Hopewell rallied Un- 
cle Nathan, because he appeared so sleepy. 



48 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Sleepy ? he said ; liow could I sleep while hear- 
ing your edifying conversation ? The Bishop 
told him, if he would say nothing respecting 
what he overheard in the night, and keep still 
on points of difference, they would put him on 
a good circuit. 

Uncle Nathan replied^ that bribery is out of 
the question. 

Bish. — I have one request, that when you 
are sinking in the horrible pit, like the weep- 
ing prophet, or like Peter, in the water, then 
pray for my son Simon. He is one of the best 
of boys for this world ; but I am satisfied that 
nothing can save his soul, short of Calvinism. 
We might as well wait for another flood, as 
that God should wait for the right exercise of 
Simon's gracious ability. He is an exception 
to all rules. I have often thought that the 
Lord had my Simon in view, when he said, 
" Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a 
fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to 
it?" When some of you, Calvinists, pray, 
down there, as ^'out of the belly of hell," 
you seem to take for granted that the desired 
answer to your prayers was decreed from eter- 
nity ; Samson-like, you take hold on the pillars 
of heaven, and shake down blessings as easily 
as thunder shakes down rain. 

Uncle N. — Why make such a request of 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 49 

me ? In your prayers you are more than half 
a Calvinist. 

Bish. — You mistake. I would not give up 
my gracious ability for the whole of Calvin- 
ism ; but we often j&ncl it convenient to have 
Calvinists beat the bush, while we catch the 
birds. You can pray according to Calvinism, 
not I, for I don't believe it. Were Calvinism 
true, it would be too hard for the Lord to con- 
vince the ungodly of the injustice of all the 
hard speeches that they have spoken against 
him. If some of my prayers would prove me 
to be a Calvinist, some of your exhortations 
would prove you to be an Arminian ; but you, 
or I, don't intend that God, or man, should 
understand us as changing our ground ; yet all 
will know in the judgment, that I mean what 
I say, when I request you, as a Calvinist, to 
pray for my son Simon. 

Uncle N. — Then you cannot be a bitter en- 
emy to Calvinism. 

Bish. — That does not follow. We seek 
favors where we hope to obtain them. But I 
have heard some of your wise Calvinists say, 
That man can make himself a new heart with- 
out the influence of the Spirit; thus treating 
moral suasion as the sum of the office-work of 
the Holy Ghost ; as though by his eloquence 
alone, he charms moral inability into ability. 
If the Holy Ghost does, for men, only what 



50 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

they can do for themselves, are not the regen- 
erate, in eiFect, 'born of the will of man'? 
but they are '' born, not of blood, nor of the 
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, bat of 
God . " If your scheme is that of able inability, 
I ask not your orisons. Simon requires some- 
thing more effectual. Many imagine that our 
divinity has little effect on our supplications ; 
but would the prayers of a Catholic however 
pious, oflered to the '' Blessed Virgin," con- 
vert my son Simon ! To expel the poison from 
Simon's heart, requires what is as poisonous 
as Calvinism. 

Uncle N. — The friendship between Calvin- 
ists and Arminians, in many instances, is very 
endearing. 

Bish. — To Catholics even, we should be 
very friendly ; but this should not prevent us 
from doing all in our power to banish Roman- 
ism, as well as Calvinism, from the world. 
(The Bishop fastened on Uncle Nathan a 
searching eye.) In the mean time, we should 
derive all the good possible from these great 
evils. / say^ pray for my son Simon ! 

The Bishop and Eider called on numbers, 
who congratulated them much on their late 
wonderful success. About three o'clock P. 
M., Uncle Nathan went to a spring that boiled 
up out of the ground, then to some thick 
bushes not far from the road, vvhere he had 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 51 

often been, like Isaac, to ''meditate." Soon 
the Bishop and Elder stopped at the same 
spring ; but they saw nothing of Uncle Na- 
than, who overheard their conversation. 

Bish. — -Elder, I say^ as we are not always 
together : Look well to your class-paper ; 
string your seeking fish, before Calvinists would 
think them ftiiiiy caught. Blow up the fire of 
excitement^ with the great and strong wind of 
Arminianism, rend the mountains, and break 
the rocks in pieces ; have gracious ability so 
exercised as to make the earth quake ; and 
now and then, with a '' still small voice," so 
speak as to make the impression. The Lord is 
ivilh lis. Love Calvinists to death. 

Elder. — Should Uncle Nathan report what 
he overheard last night, and be generally be- 
lieved, what would become of Arminianism ? 

Bish. — It is what satan can never destroy. 

Elder. — Some say be never tried. 

Bish. — Should Uncle Nathan report, we 
could let it pass for Galvinistic slander. We, 
poor Methodists, have been so persecuted, and 
we have so much sanctimony, that if we but 
v/hisper, Persecution ! our people, not under- 
standing the subject so well as we ministers 
understand it, would take the alarm at once, 
and be grieved all but to death ; and the tide 
of popular sympathy would turn instantly in 
our favor ; although I suspect that the days 

4 



52 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

for sanctimony, and for the hue-and-cry of per- 
secution raised by persecutors, to avails will 
soon be numbered ; yet never fear. 

Elder, — We persecute the Calvinists ? 

Bish. — Arminianism is more of a war against 
Calvinism than is generally supposed. What 
fool does not know the thing intended, when a 
General, encamped and forted, has his guns 
pointed right at other people ? Our camps, the 
when and where pitched, i. e., our chapels, and 
our most important movements, show our dead- 
ly design against the vitals of John Calvin, 
however affectionately and often we may in- 
quire, ^'Art thou in health, my brother?" 
Should we repay all we have taken from Cal- 
vinists, our condition would be pitiable indeed. 
Like true Israelites in Egypt, we borrow, never 
designing to pay. Numbers of empiric Cal- 
vinists have all but ruined Calvinism, in try- 
ing to mend it. In one way or another, poor 
John Calvin has had his nose kept on the 
grindstone ever since he was born ; but his 
end will be, that the risen Arminius will most 
lovingly grind out his nose into his head, so 
that no place will be left for his brains. 

The Elder spoke of hearing a squirrel in the 
bushes ; but Uncle Nathan was there, unper- 
ceived. 

After the Bishop and Elder had left the 
spring, Uncle Nathan went on, and met a Mil- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 53 

lerite calling himself a Millenarian, who did 
his best at proselyting ; to which, in reply. 
Uncle Nathan inquired. When did satan ever 
attempt to overcome Messiah arrayed in divine 
majesty ? The Head of the church, Christ in 
the fleshy vanquished the adversary, whose des- 
perate effort now is to triumph over Christ, in 
ifiis body^ the Churchy while in the flesh ; and 
must satan, in perdition, be proclaimed victor 
over Messiah's body, in its present human 
■weakness 7 though it has been said that in the 
19th century, Calvinistic churches are dying 
of stagnation. 



CHAPTER VII. 

OLD AND NEW. 

Not many days after the dream of the Peep^ 
Uncle Nathan went to hear Dr. Deepwater 
preach from Luke 7 : 28-30 : ^^ For I say unto 
you, Among those that are born of women, 
there is not a greater prophet than John the 
Baptist ; but he that is least in the kingdom 



54 UNCLE NATHzVN ; OR, 

of God is greater than he. And all the people 
that heard him, and the publicans, justified 
GrocI, being baptized with the baptism of John. 
But the Pharisees and lawyers rej<^cted the 
counsel of God against themselves, being not 
baptized of him." 

The Dr. was evidently made for a profound 
thinker, and a distinguished orator. His au- 
dience w\as great ; and from first to last, wuth 
breathless heed, they listened. Uncle Na- 
than's attention was confined mainly to the 
ideas advanced. In the course of his sermon, 
the Dr. said, I come to settle the long dispu- 
ted subject of baptism ; and once for all, I 
premise, that nothing is gained in argument 
by withholding any admission that can reason- 
ably be required. Baptists have nought to 
fear. For every disputed religious theory that 
we advance should give conclusive reasons. 
Our Baptist plan is peculiar ; but our implied 
reasons expressed will satisfy every rational 
demand. That scheme is bad which is endan- 
gered by admitting the ivhole truth. Every 
minister of the '' new covenant,'' should en- 
courage the most thorough scrutiny, and leave 
it to guilty Catholics, and others like them, to 
dread investigation. 

The pure in principle^ may well be expected 
to be pure in practice, Christ is not alone in 
demanding that all such do much ' more than 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 55 

others.' Emphatically are they ' the salt of 
the earth, — the light of the world.' When all 
on earth shall be Baptists^ according to Isa. 
30 : 25-26, '^ There shall be upon every high 
mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers, and 
streams of waters, — (deep enough for immer- 
sion,) Moreover, the light of the (Baptist) 
moon shall be as the light of the sun ; and the 
light of the (Baptist) sun shall be sevenfold." 
— This language is figurative ; but the figures 
are none too striking to set forth the glory 
beaming from continents full of Baptist ordin- 
ances, in a woiid-v\dde Baptist Church. On 
the other hand, a Judas of a Baptist, if possi- 
ble, is worse than a Judas Iscariot. 

We learn from Sir Isaac Newton, and other 
great men, that the theory to be received, is 
the one with which all known facts agree. Sir 
Isaac saw an apple fall, and he inferred that 
gravitation is the law that gx)verns the heaven- 
ly bodies in their orbits. My position is, that 
John is the great Prophet on baptism, and the 
one to be followed in all generations ; that as 
a prophet, he learned beforehand, that what is 
now called the New Testament, would be writ- 
ten in the Greek language, and he foresaw 
hovj it would be written ; and he found him- 
self under the necessity of learning and deci- 
ding the meaning of baptizo, for all' coming 
time : and he somehoiv ascertained that adult 



56 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

believers only would be subjects of the ordin- 
ance. If all the known facts agree with my 
theory that I will soon advance, my demonstra- 
tion will be perfect. On examining what is 
now called the Old Testament, the prophet 
John discovered, in it, no evidence that an 
administrator ever dipped another person, in 
performing any divine appointment ; and on 
this subject, he foreknew that the writers of 
the New Testament would harmonize with 
those of the old. According to the Greek of 
Heb. 9 : 10, the '' divers baptisms," [''wash- 
ings''] in the same chapter, are explained to 
mean, not that Moses dipped, but that he 
sprinkled all the people ; [Heb. 9 : 19,] and in 
1 Cor. 10 : 1-2, " All our fathers were under 
the cloud, and all passed through the sea ; and 
were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and 
in the sea"; the word in is indefinite, and 
proves no contact with water, except by rain 
from the cloud, or spray from the sea ; in ei- 
ther case, the action would be sprinkling ; for 
in Scripture, it is a noted fact, that " They 
passed through the Red Sea as by dry land.'' 
(Heb. 11 : 29.) As the Bible is consistent 
with itself, " All baptized of him in the rivier 
of Jordan '" — doubtless iri may have the same 
indefinite signification, as ''mthe cloud, — in 
the sea," (1 Cor. 10 : 2.) Proof is what we 
seek, and proof must be fixed, definite ; that 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 57 

it should be equivocal^ is by no means admis- 
sible. Philip found the eunuch reading a por- 
tion in Isaiah. In the context of that same 
passage, we read, '' So shall he sprinkle many 
nations." Soon, the Ethiopian said, '^ See, 
here is water, what doth hinder me to be bap- 
tized ? " and How ? John, as a prophet, fore- 
saw that connected with baptism^ in Scripture, 
would be a notorious lack o^ prepositions, some- 
times translated into, and out of ; but usually 
meaning so much less than Englishmen under- 
stand by m/o, and out of^ as to prove no more 
than to, and from. With no propriety can 
Acts 8 : 38-39, be rendered, entered into the 
water, and came up out^ out of it -^ as, " En- 
ter into^ (Greek, into— go into) thy closet; (Mat. 
6 : 6.) Cast out the beam out of; (Matt. 7 : 5.) 
blot out his name out of — '' (Rev; 3 : 5.) and 
many similar passages ; but not so in Greek, 
or English, on baptism. 

In the Greek Septuagint, that our Baptist, 
i. e., Baptizer, doubtless studied, we have 
(Josh. 4 : 16-18,) three examples of, out^ out 
of the Jordan, meaning, out, out of the dry 
bed of the river; when ''the waters which 
came down from above stood, and rose up up- 
on an heap, very far from the city Adam — 
until all the people were passed clean over 
Jordan." (Josh. 3 : 16-17.) As the priests 
came out, out of the dry channel of the river, 



58 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

had they done the same when the water was 
there, no less than oitt^ out of ^ would have been 
necessary. Those priests were not under ^ nor 
in^ but simply on the surface of the bed of the 
river Jordan, at or near the place where, ages 
after, John baptised ; and as w^e know he was a 
thorough Baptist, why he did not take meas- 
ures to have the writers of the New Testament 
record, that baptizers entered into (Greek into — 
went into) the water, and came out^ out of it ; 
no Baptist on earth is now able to tell. Philip 
went down into the water, not into^ into it; that 
is, he went far enough to baptize the '' man of 
Ethiopia.'' 

According to our great Dr. Jude, " Buried 
with him by baptism into death," (Rom. 6 : 4.) 
signifies spiritual baptism ; so the prophet John 
understood that the grand decision would de- 
pend upon the meaning of baptizo as used by 
pagan Greeks. The /(g?/;^, good and bad, were 
remarkably set in their customs. Our great 
prophet might have been called Zacharias, had 
not Gabriel, beforehand, said to his father, 
'' Thou shalt call his name John/' Our proph- 
et foresaw that in all coming ages, the Greeks 
would be expected to understand their own 
language, though dead^ dead, DEAD. For 
these, and other reasons, said thf Dr., My 
theory is, that John^ divinely commissioned as 
'- a prophet indeed j' went off among the Greeks ^ 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 59 

to ''Alexandria — and Ephesiis^'' and there 
adopted the pagan baptizo, as the only Christ — 
consecrated church — door of heaven upon earthy 
for believers ; and excluding their children^ as 
siich^ as profane heathens^ from the baptizo- 
kingdom^ — (as great king Abaz went to Damas- 
cus, and adopted the foshion, the pattern of 
an altar that he saw there, and shut up the 
doors of the house of the Lord ) As in duty 
bound, continued the Dr., I will now prove the 
main points of my theory to a dem^onstration; 
for, if it cannot be demonstrated^ it should be 
rejected by all as an abomination to God and to 
men. A demonstration in plain language is 
understood and appreciated by ordinary minds ; 
and this is emphatically true respecting Baptist 
demonstration, because most fully sustained by 
'' Thus saith the Lord,'' Now for the demon- 
stration^ which as a task to be well done^ is a 
great cross ; but so much the greater the crown. 
Let me have your sympathetic prayers. 

So strongly were the mothers of John, and of 
Jesus, attached to each other, (See Luke 1; 
36 — 56,) it is unaccountahle that John, at the 
age of full thirty years, should say, (John 1: 33,) 
" I knew him not ;'' only as my theory is cor- 
rect. Of Jesus, we read, " Now his parents 
went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the 
Passover. And when he was twelve years old, 
they went up to Jerusalem, after the custom of 



60 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

the feast." As John belonged to a devout 
family of the priests, had he lived at home^ or 
in that region, in his youth, he would go and 
become acquainted with Jesus, at the Passover, 
at all events. John " was in the deserts till < 
the day of his shewing unto Israel." (Lu. 1: 80.) 
Mark the word '' deserts ;" not one desert, but 
" deserts," in more than one desert, in various, 
distant, retired places, he was studying Greek, 
ascertaining the original sense of baptizo. He 
must have been a great man, to conquer his 
Jewish prejudices ; it was as hard as to 'conquer 
a peace.' "- In those days came John the Bap- 
tist;" — (Mat. 3: 1.) came. He had been away; 
but he came fully prepared for his work as a 
Baptist. ''A certain Jew, born at Alexandria, 
[away off in Africa ^'\ an eloquent man and 
mighty in the Scriptures, —knowing only the 
baptism of John.'' [Acts 18: 24, 25.] At Ephe- 
siiSj [much nearer to Glreece than to Jerusalem,] 
Paul found about twelve men, who had received 
only John's baptism. See, for yourselves, where 
John pored over baptizo. Good old Simeon 
prophesied of Christ as ''Alight to lighten the 
Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." 
Behold Gentiles here first in order. Ab ' John 
was a prophet indeed,' and as prophets agree ; 
he first shed the ''light" of his baptism 
on Gentiles ; viz : ^t Alexandria^ and at Eph- 
esus; his converts there being his baptismal 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 61 

" first fruits." John was a tliorougli Baptist, 
from the first, by ' practice th^tia^kesi^eT feet,' 
His spiritual son, Apollos, was " fervent in the 
Spirit," helping his spiritual father in the great 
baptizo-vjovk of faith. At Alexandria, and 
at Ephesus, to remove every shadow of a doubt,^ 
John could get a plenty of Greek books, and a 
teacher, and go into one wilderness, and eat up 
all the '' locusts and wild honey" there ;[Mat. 
3: 4,] and so go from one wilderness, or desert, 
to another, till he was master of his subject. 
From heathen authors, John would understand 
that with them baptism was never a religious 
rite. Hence its virgin purity, as heathen reli- 
gion is impure. Originally, the meaning of 
bapto was dip; as coloring vv^as usually perform- 
ed by dippings bapto came to signify to color. 
Then baptize was used to mean dip into solids^ 
as into loheat^ and into liquids, with various 
materials, — the word baptize never showing 
into what, or to what extent, those materials 
were dipped. Into v/hat, and the extent, always 
depended upon other evidence, never on baptize. 
The Greeks had words found also, in the New 
Testament, as buthizo, and katapontizo, that 
necessarily mean submersion, i. e., total immer- 
sion; but we ARGUE submersion from baptize, 
because certain persons passing over a river, 
were said to be baptised, i. e., dipped up to the 
middle. The argument turns on the point, that 



62 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

the water ^ and the baptism^ reached exactly to 
the same extent. Hence submersion is required 
in order to baptize Vaeiohole person. Here you 
have the argument fairly stated ; and what 
child ^ as we. Baptists, often ask with great 
emphasis, what child does not understand it? 
Would that of children, sprinklers might learn 
their duty, I say, sprinklers ; for if they will 
be such, in spite of all that is done to teach 
them better, like Paul, they ought to ^'take 
pleasure" in what we design as ''reproaches." 
Their good is what we intend ; but we are not 
often so understood. We buffet them for their 
''faults," and this is doubtless the reason wdiy 
they take it so "patiently." 

Many children do I see before me. Each 
should have a Bible, paper and pencil, and if 
you hear, read, mark, know and act for your- 
selves, not one of you will ever be a baby- 
sprinkler. Children, remember wdiat I say. 
Baptism is the door into the church, and to 
communion. Making baby church-members, 
has been one of the w^orst of all the ways in 
helping the adversary do mischief. 

Stupidly, at best, have many denied that 
John's baptism is Christian baptism ; he bap- 
tized Christ, therefore his baptism can be no 
other than Christian, It is also John's baptism, 
for Scripture repeatedly so represents it ; not 
Moses's baptism — that looks too much like 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 



sprinkling; but Johns baptism. God would 
have us "Render to all their dues." Christ 
teaches that John's baptism is from heaven. 
Beino^ orifirinal, as a divine institution, and little 
understood, doubtless it vwas the burden of his 
preaching. When the door of faith was opened 
to the Gentiles, Peter did not forg^^t to mention 
''the baptism which John preached,'' In John's 
ilay, the common people had few copies of the 
Scriptures, so that his preachinp: was their main 
guide. Hence, " all the people that heard liim, 
and the publicans, justified God, piow?] being 
baptized with the baptism of John." Jesus srdd, 
"The Pharisees sit in Moses's seat; and to a laiv- 
per, He said, "What is written in the law? [i.e., 
i)£ Moses?] how readest thou ?--Bat the Pharisees 
and lawyers [sticklers, doubtless, for Moses's 
baptism,] rejected the counsel of God against 
themselves, [how?] being not baptized of" 
John. My friends, beware of rejecting the 
counsel of God agrdnst yourselves,^ in not re- 
ceiving John's baptism I 

Having established siibmero^e as the meaning 
of baptizo, we are prepared to undei'stand the 
Bible perfectly in all that othervvdse would 
be doubtful cases on the subject. It is recorded 
of Nebuchadnezzar, that his body was vjet 
(Hebrew, baptized,) v;ith the dew of hea.ven. 
¥/ho may not change their ground, to maintain 
a good cause ? Turning from the action, or 



64 UNCLE NATHAN ; OK, 

mode, to the effect ; the dew was sprinkled on 
him, till he was drenched to submersion. How 
easy for a child to understand ! With the aid 
of my Theory, in such passages, as, " I have 
a baptism to be baptised with ; and how am I 
straitened till it be accomplished ! — buried 
with him by baptism into death, — One Lord, 
one faith, one baptism;'' we see submersion 
as plain as the light of heaven can make it. 

The Dr. added, that had he time, he could 
demonstrate that himself " is least in the king- 
dom of God ;" but could not tell how this 
would prove him to be greater than John the 
Baptist, '^ a prophet indeed ;'' unless from the 
fact that he had discovered the greater than 
Newtonian Theory, that the heaven-directed 
John, in his youth, went as far as to Greece, 
where he learned from the heathen, the mean- 
ing of baptizo ; that the Baptists generally 
had taken ground that IMPLIED his Theory ; 
but that none of them had brought it to such 
perfection, as to venture to have it stereo- 
typed, a duty which he felt he owed to God, 
and to men ; he therefore claimed the Theory 
as peculiarly his own. 

Many were astonished that a Theory so 
wonderful had not been sooner discovered. 
Some confidently predicted that the Baptist 
millenium would commence within ten years. 
Others said it might not begin quite so soon. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 65 

Uncle Nathan quickly began to ascertain 
the effect of the sermon on the minds of some 
of the children and parents with whom he was 
acquainted. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

STRENGTH OF A CHILD. 



Little John Canfield said. Mother, why is 
Uncle Nathan round so much, with his hat 
and pockets stuffed full of writing paper ? The 
other day, he talked with the Methodist Bish- 
op a long time ; and as soon as the Bishop 
was out of sight, Uncle Nathan went and sat 
down under a tree, and kept writmg there, an 
hour, or more. Mother, you say. Uncle Na- 
than appears to be searching for truth, and 
that we, children, are full of mistakes. Is Un- 
cle Nathan writing down our mistakes so as to 
make them tell the truth ? I say^ Mother ! 
but when his mother was very busy, she sel- 
dom made much reph^ Johnny's way was to 
be ever questioning his mother, and once in a 



66 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

while, to importune her for an answer. Moth- 
er, if Dr. Deepwater is right, why did Paul, 
when a man, ' put away childish things, and 
say. In understanding be men ? ' 

Mother, I remember seeing that dead baby 
in the meeting house. You say, '' In Adam 
all die "; and that Eve ate of the fruit that 
God forbid. I am afraid to die. I don't love 
Adam and Eve. I wish they had waited, and 
let me be my own father and mother. As Dr. 
Deepwater preaches, I like to act for myself. 
You don't let me act for myself, one time in 
forty. Why don't you ? for you have often 
said that you were baptized for yourself ; and 
why is acting for. one's blessed seJf^ so much 
confined to baptism ? If this is right, will you 
tell me, mother, why father Abraham acted so 
much for little Isaac, the child of promise ? 
Are yoa, mother, a child of promise, " as 
Isaac was''? You said your father tried to 
act for you ; but that you did not take it kind- 
ly. Was Isaac so hard to please ? But I 
suppose Dr. Deepwater is right. Next Sab- 
bath, I vv'ill ask him to let me join the Church, 
so that I can act for myself. 

Mrs. Canfield has a mind of a high order 
— was a conscientious Baptist : but like many 
other Baptists, she *had perplexing doubts. 

Mother, I teased Uncle Nathan, and he 
told me that circumcise means ''to cut all 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 67 

round ;'' and I have heard father read about 
uncircumcised lips^ and uncircumcised ears ; 
and that Joshua made him sharp knives and 
circumcised the children ; and you say, un- 
circumcised means not circumcised. Now, 
Joe Sumner's ears are always hearing bad 
things, and his lips are saying bad things ; and 
we, boys, took our sharp knives and catched 
Joe, and begun to circumcise his ears ; but he 
yelled so hideously, that his mother ran out 
with a broom, and talked so, we knew her lips 
to be uncircumcised ; and we scampered home. 
Mother, you know Dr. Deepwater preaches 
much about Christ's house — buried with him 
■ — planted in the likeness of his death. You 
remember, the Doctor's text last Sabbath, was, 
^' Those that be planted in the house of the 
Lord, shall flourish in the courts of our God." 
Now, in the grave-yard, close to the meeting- 
house, is a little grave dug to bury Ned Har- 
per in ; it is the thing exactly. While the 
folks are gone off to the funeral, this afternoon, 
we, boys, are going to take little Jack Snow, 
and plant him in that dug grave, and see how 
he will flourish. 

His mother said earnestly, Johnny, you must 
do no such thing ; and leave off your circum- 
cising ; then turning to her husband, she whis- 
pered, Johnny will make a thorough Baptist. 

Mother, I wish you would listen to a story 



68 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

that I heard a stranger tell, yesterday, about 
Mr. Goodman. He said, Mr. Goodman loved 
his wife and children very much, and they 
loved him as well ; that he came home, last 
week, and had on a new, beautiful coat, as all 
agreed. Mrs. Goodman and the children de- 
sired to know how it was colored. He did not 
know. They all said, he must solemnly de- 
clare that he believed there is no right way to 
have a coat dyed^ only by dipping ; and he 
must know that his coat was colored in that 
way, or they would never eat or drink with 
him again. He said he was willing to wear a 
dipped coat, to please them ; but he feared to 
say before God, that he believed what he 
didn't believe. So they kept him away from 
the table, and he cried, and they cried ; but 
they kept him away. Now Mother, what do 
you think of such folks ? She turned away, 
and wiped tears from her eyes, and whispered 
to her husband, ! this is close communion ! 
Husband, why are religionists, we Baptists 
excepted, overbearing in their exclusion of 
others, in proportion as they themselves are 
erroneous ? 

Mr. C— Put your question to Dr. Deepwater. 

Mrs. C. — His feelings are so easily wound- 
ed, that I would rather be excused. 

Mr. C —Yesterday the Dr. said to me, Im- 
pertinent questions are my hardest taskers, in 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 69 

these stormy times ; and I am not alone, — 
Bishop Goodenongh assures me, that he can- 
not say, with Job, ''I am escaped with the 
skin of my teeth." I asked the Dr. the rea- 
son. He replied, Ministers of the only true 
church, are living in perilous times ; for, 
^' Children are their oppressors, and women 
rule over them.— This day is this Scripture 
fulfilled in your ears." Should John's bap- 
tism, as we hold it, be set aside, what would 
become of the church, God only knows. Now, 
have you, or Johnny, been making the Dr. 
any trouble ? 

As Mr. Canfield was going out, Mrs. C. 
ssaid, Since the Dr. advanced his wonder- 
ful Theory, I have begun to suspect, that the 
Ahab troubling Israel, is our heathen baptizo. 
God saitb, " To the law and to the testimony ; 
if they speak not according to this word, it is 
because there is no light in them." 

Mother, you know Deacon Broadhead is al- 
ways talking about being buried with Christ, 
— and planted in the likeness of his death. 
Was the Deacon buried with Christ, the other 
day ? when his oxen at work, only ate a little 
grass, and he pounded and pounded them, and 
they bellowed so, his little George cried, and 
said, Pa ! Don't ! Do?i't ! The Deacon said,, 
Stop ! you cur ! and he kept pounding, and 
calling his oxen so bad names, — I thought his 



UNCLE NATHAI!^' ; Otc, 



lips must be uncircumcised; and was the deacoti 
planted with Christ, when he got away poor^ 
sick mdow Sawyer's last cow from her starv- 
ing children, so he could h^Ye forty coavs? The 
widow said. Deacon, can an extortioner go to 
heaven ? The Deacon answered, Yoit know 
we are all fallible creatures, but '' the Lord 
seeth not as man seeth " ; — Jesus saith, 
" Judge not according to the appearance ;'' if 
the heart is immersed into the blood of Christ , 
we have nothing to fear. In heart we must 
give up the world ; then, the more we have of 
it, the better. 

Is the Deacon's ladder as long as Jacob's ? 
will it reach up to heaven ? will it, mother ? 

Mrs. Canfield wrung her hands, and looked 
right up, a long time, and said within herself. 
Hard, hard questions to think of ; I fear to 
answer them. 

Dr. Deepwater soon entered the house, and 
after much conversation, Mr. Canfield inquired 
of the Dr., Sir, is the word circumcise used in 
the original of Scripture, except in relation to 
the rite of circumcision ? 

Dr. jD. — yes, three times in Ps. 118 : 10, 
12, ''AH nations compassed me about; but 
in the name of th^ Lord will I destroy^ (He- 
brew) circumcise them." The same original 
word is translated destroy, in verses 11 and 
12, of Ps. 118. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 71 

Mr. C, — Would not this go to show that 
the origmal of circumcise is as extensive., in 
its meaning, as baptizo ? 

Dr. D.— Baby sprinklers might say so. 

Mr. C— Is not the original (Matt. 14 : 30, 
and Lu. 5 . 7,) of the word sink, baptizo ? — 
Peter beginning to sink ; and the ships began 
to sink ? 

Dr. D. — I wish I could say, It is. 

Mr. C. — This morning, an advocate for 
sprinkling puzzled me a little. 

Dr. D. — How so ? 

Mr. (7.— He said. As i.ve are required to 
speak as the oracles of God~to prophesy ac- 
cording to the proportion (Greek, analogy) of 
faith ; are we not to understand God as l3eing 
consistent with himself, in his own ordinances ? 
I replied, Most certainly. He added, As 
the Sabbath was made for man, not man 
for the Sabbath, and as man excels wa- 
ter, was not the water of baptism made for the 
subject, not the subject for the water ? if so, 
should not the water be applied to the subject, 
not the subject to the liquid element? To 
which the Doctor made no reply, only pursing^ 
his noble brow, and assuming airs reserved for 
peculiar occasions. Mr. Canfield looked at him 
significantly, meaning. Doctor, I understand 
you, and inquired. Might we not as well go to 



72 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

the wind and earthquake, to find Christ, as to 
'' descend into the deep?" Is He there? 
With a tear, a shrug and a forced smile, the 
Doctor gave Mr. Canfield a look of no com- 
mon pity. Very much does a thorough Bap- 
tist make of burial in water, as a choice ele- 
ment of his religion ; yet it is to be regretted 
that the Doctor's temper is easily ruffled; but 
he tells others, that those are most apt to take 
Oiience, who fail in argument. 

Johnny came running in, and said, CoL 
Widehouse says that Capt. Stone's house was 
burnt, last night. 

Dr, D. — Did they save anything ? 

Johnny, — No Sir, only their lives ; so CoL 
Widehouse said, rmd he said, too, that a few 
days ago, Tim Burton was burnt. 

Dr. D.— To what extent ? 

Johnny, — Col. Widehouse says that he was 
burnt up to the middle, 

Dr, D, — Much worse than is common. 

Mr. C, — As the house was burnt, and Tim 
Burton was burnt, why. Sir, did you not un- 
derstand that the house and Tim were both 
burnt alike ? 

Dr. D. — ' If one member of a living bodj/ 
^ suffer, all the members suffer with it.' Not 
so with a lifeless thing, unless it relates to 
something peculiar ; as what is done according 
to a statute or ordinance. The sealing with 



STRICT AGREEIVIENT WITH GOD. 73 

the ring of king Ahasuerus, was that alone 
which gave force to the decree to destroy the 
Jews ; though that seal might not come in 
contact with a single word of the decree. 

Mr. C. — Is not baptism a statute, or ordin- 
ance ? 

Dr. i)._Whatthen? 

Mr. C. — Is not the divinely appointed wa- 
ter of Baptism as significant as the ring of 
Ahasuerus, in meanings reaching far beyond 
all literal bounds ? 

Dr. D. — Then your inference would be,, 
that sprinkling baptism, in meanings reaches 
the whole man, 

Mr. C. — Was not a circumcised Jew con- 
sidered as circumcised in his whole person ? 

Dr. D. — Certainly. Of the Passover, it is 
written, " No uncircumcised person shall eat 
thereof." 

Mr. C. — Will you admit your own logic 
when urged by a pleader for sprinkling ? 

Dr. D. — Baptism by sprinkling, is so abom- 
inable, that nothing can prove it. 

Mr. C. — My father, a staunch Baptist, 
frankly confessed to me that our scheme is 
nothing but will ; when I went, as a convert- 
ed son, to have him give me the proof in favor 
of our Baptist system, I was shocked exceed- 
ingly. But, Sir, will you tell me the meaning 



74 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

" Of such, (viz., infants, Lu. 18 : 15-16,) is 
the kingdom of heaven "? 

Dr. D. — '' To such belongs the kingdom of 
heaven ;" is the sense of the Greek. 

Mr. C. — What is the meaning of this ? 
'' Except a man be born of water, and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
God/' 

Dr. D. — Except any one is immersed^ he 
belongs not to Christ's visible kingdom : and 
unless he is renewed by the Spirit, he is not a 
child of God ; and as we hold to the final per- 
severance of all saints, and as the children pf 
believers usually give no evidence of being^ 
thus renewed, we refuse to immerse any, till 
we discover such evidence. 

Mr. C. — Have the blessings of the '' new 
covenant" of Heb. 8 : 8-12, written in the 
heart, with the unfailing promise to such faith 
as is required, that all shall know the Lord 
from the least to the greatest ; I ask, have these 
blessings been available to believers ever since 
the days of Abraham? 

Dr. D. — Though I fear to give you a nega- 
tive answer, you cannot deny that most of 
these days have been those of darkness. 

Mr. C— Then days of darkness are the 
ones in which our Baptist scheme flourishes, 
and verily, with the sin of refusing baptism to 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 



the children, you make a cloak for the sin of 
lack of faith required of their parents. 

Dr, D. — If our anti-p^edo-baptism is sin, 
it is not to be compared to that of faithless popish 
paBdo-baptism practiced by many Protestants. 

Mr. C, — Ah, another cloak ; if one does 
not suffice, two may require a third. Sir, 
if you believe that those dying in infancy are 
saved, why do you refuse to baptize such as 
are presented by believing parents ? 

Dr, D, — Saints dying without baptism, are 
saved. 

Mr, C. — That adult saints are not baptized, 
is not the fault of Baptists ; but we deceive 
ourselves when, as Baptists, we talk about the 
salvation of deceased infants. Did you ever 
exclude from baptism^ any saint for being too 
young ? Is not your rule that of demurring, in 
proportion as you fail to discover evidences of 
saintship ; and of this qualification, don't you, 
as a Baptist,^ treat all infants as being entirely 
destitute ? You know the historical fact, that 
in the middle or dark ages, opposition to in- 
fant baptism, had its origin in the doctrine of 
infant damnation ; and has any modification 
of that spirit of opposition, ever changed its 
identity ? and do we not assume what we can 
never prove, i. e., that God appointed John 
as the submerging prophet, to establish our 
anti-psedo-baptist position ? 



76 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Dr. D, — It is time for me to go. I see 
your brain is turned ; yet I know some con- 
verts undecided, and I will ply them with my 
arguments while I have the least hope of suc- 
cess. But I have one question for you to an- 
swer, before you go off to the sprinklers, viz., 
If the inspired writers meant sprinkle^ when 
they said baptize^ why did they not say sprin- 
kle ? 

Mr, C, — I will examine your question; and 
Doctor, will you please to explain the logic of 
two of your answers to my questions — one I 
put a month ago, and the other within a fort- 
night : 

1. Why are the Baptists so much^ and the 
Psedo-Baptists so little given to proselyting ? 
to which, you replied. We stand on firm 
ground ; but they are slipping on the ice, and 
many, if not most of them, know it, and of 
course are very cautious. 

2. Why have the Arminians such a prose- 
lyting scheme ? You answered. Their shrewd 
ones perceive that they are on a sandy founda- 
tion, and that therefore they must depend 
mainly upon artifice for success. 

The just agreement of these answers, I have 
failed to discover. 

Dr. D. — The King's business requires 
haste. Good day. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. / i 

Mr. Canfield said to himself, I believe that 
the Doctor, as a Calvinist, is right ; but on 
that subject, he don't proselyte. Why 
don't he guard, as a good shepherd, against 
wolves ? as I have often heard him call 
ArminianSy adding. The ignorant excepted. 
Sometimes, he adds. Ignorance of God's ways, 
is dangerous ; for ' If the blind lead the blind, 
both will fall into the ditch.' Why should the 
wise act so unwisely ? " Eeligious proselytes 
followed Paul and Barnabas." Paul's way 
was, to proselyte as many as possible to just 
the whole truth as it is in Jesus ; and as be- 
came him, thanking God that himself had treat- 
ed water-baptism as very liable to be perverted 
and over-rated, saying ' to the Church of God 
at Corinth,' " I thank God that I baptized 
none of you, — saints," as he called them, 
''but Crispus and Gains; lest any should 
say that I had baptized in mine own name." 
Yet baptism is the Doctor's favorite theme, that 
he don't forget. Last year, I heard him say to 
a young minister. When you find that you are 
in danger of being defeated, look wondrously 
wise and devout ; and as soon as expedient, 
hasten to the wavering, and dextrously ring in 
their ears the changes, Baptizo not translated 
— into — out of—Jordan — much water there — 
buried hy baptism^ which we. Baptists, are 
''forward to do;" and depend upon it, we 



78 UNCLE NxiTHAN ; OE, 

shall triumph. Moreover, he reiterates, Bible, 
Bibkj in distinction from what is uninspired. 
Why then does he not adhere to the Scriptural 
meaning ofbaptizo? which is no more identical 
with baptizo as used by the heathen, according 
to the numerous examples that I have just ex- 
amined, as quoted by our ablest Baptists, than 
wit^ in 2 Cor. 8: 1, is identical with modern 
witj as to sense. But should we take heathen 
Greeks as guides on baptism, at best they would 
be only blind leaders of ivhom ? of illuminated 
Baptists ? Besides, I don't see the consistency 
of our close communion. If Dr. Deepwater is 
right, none can administer Scriptural baptism, 
except those who have received such baptism 
themselves. The other day I said to the Doc- 
tor, Will you prove that Father Roger Williams 
was a Scriptural baptizer ? but his peculiar airs 
plainly indicated that he was not disposed to 
reply. Provided the Doctor is correct, who on 
earth is truly baptized ? and who has, or can 
have a right to communion ? for we have no 
Baptist succession from Baptist Apostles. 

As soon as the Doctor was out of hearing, 
Jonny said. Father, w^hat did Dr. Deepwater 
mean ? for last Sabbath, you know, his text 
was, '' Eat, friends, drink, yea, drink abund- 
antly, beloved." He said the Lord's Supper 
never meant ^fuU meal ; that God would have 
the hungry eat at home, as at Corinth, when 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 



Paul lived ; that when Christ said, ^ Eat of this 
bread, and drink of this cup,' he meant only 
^Taste of this bread, and Tasfe of this wine. 
Why did the Lord say. Eat, Drink, when he 
meant only Taste, When the Doctor gave you 
the wine, he said, '^ Drink abundantly, be- 
loved ;" but you all only tasted, and I suppose 
the Doctor meant only Taste. What does the 
man mean ? 

Mr. Canfield went out, and Jonny said, 
Mother, why is Dr. Deepwater always talking 
and preaching about the or/gi;2a/of the ancient 
Greek, as if it were the best part of the Bible ? 
I say, mother, do you hear me? 

Yes, my son, I hear you, and I wish I Vv^ere 
able to answer one half of your questions. 

Mother, Dr. Deepwater must know the v/hole, 
as he talks ; why not get him to help you ? 
Now tell me, mother, why the children didn't 
do right to worship the golden calf. They said, 
'^ These be thy gods, Israel." Wasn't that 
the original, as they learned it in Egypt ? 

Mrs. C. — I suppose it was ; but that does 
not prove it to be right to worship a calf for a 
God. 

Mother, V70uldn'.t it be right, if that calf were 
baptizo ? It must be that Dr. Deepwater 
knows every thing ; and why don'fctdl the baby- 
sprinklers go and study with him, and know as 
much as he does ? Mother, last Sabbath-noon^ 



80 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

I went to Dea. Broadhead's to get some drink; 
and his children told me that they should have 
a good ride out to the farm, after meeting. Dr. 
Deepwater was there; and he, and the Deacon,* 
had the newspapers; and they talked about who 
would next go to live in the White House at 
Washington. Dea. Broadhead took an apple 
out of his poc,ket and gave me ; but 0, it wa? 
so salt and Vjormy^ I couldn't eat it. I onlj' 
tasted. Tommy told me, afterward, that he 
went with his pa, that morning, to an outer 
pasture, to salt the cattle ; that his pa carried 
the salt in his pockety so that the folks coiildn't 
see it ; and coming back, he picked up some 
apples that he called wind-falls. When the 
Deacon saw you coming, he slipped the news- 
papers under the great Bible. 

Uncle Nathan said, when he heard this ac- 
count. True, it is bad for that man to claim that 
he is buried with Christ ; but alas, for such 
Broadheads ! they are confined to no sect. The 
Deacon says truly,^ (I fear,) If you take away 
his baptism by burial in water, you rob him of 
every bit of his religion. 

Mother, the Doctor said that he would look 
out a chapter in the Deacon's great Bible, to 
read in the meeting. So, you know, he began 
to read, in the afternoon. In those days came 
John the Presbyterian ? No. John the Con- 
gregationalist ? No. John the Methodist? 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 81 

No. John the Baptist. That is it, John was 
a Baptist. But ! how did I feel to see Un- 
cle Jacobs come forward, when Dr. Deep water 
was ready to pour out the wine, — saying, This 
is my Father's table ; will you give me a piece 
of bread ? The Doctor said, You must come 
through Jordan. Uncle said, When I get into 
Jordan, if it overflows all its banks, I wish to 
go through to that good land on the other side. 
I list not to stop here when I get into Jordan. 
Tlie Doctor replied. Then you can't come to 
this table. Uncle Jacobs, with eyes and face 
full of the good, the tears streaming down, 
looked up to heaven and said, I am going home 
soon; then must I tell Father, that you wouldn't 
give me the crumbs ! Don't you remember 
how you and the other women cried, and the 
little children all wiped their eyes ; when poor 
Sambo went out and got a mouldy crust of 
bread that he had laid up for his own supper, 
and a cup of water, and gave them to Uncle 
Jacobs? He ate, and wept; and drank, and 
wept ; and we all wept with him. Dr. Deep- 
water, and Dea. Broadhead, said to Uncle, 
Come to us through Jordan ; then our arms 
and hearts will be open to receive you. Uncle 
sobbed, saying, I will say, come to me through 
Jordan, when my feet are planted on the New 
Canaan-shore. 

The next month, Mrs. Canfield returned 



82 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

home about eight o'clock in the evening, and 
found that Mary, twin sister of Jonny, had got 
all the white dirty clothes hanging on chairs 
round the Nursery-stove. Mary^ said she, 
what are you doing ? She replied, mother, you 
remember the text last Sabbath, '' Our bodies 
washed with pure water ;" and the sermon too. 
Dr, Deep water said, What would you, women, 
think of sprinkling a few drops of w^ater, to 
wash a filthy garment ? So, after meeting he 
went out to the Creek, and dipped some boys 
and girls all over into water not the most pure ; 
and pretty soon they came in, and dried them- 
selves by the fire. Jonny and I thought that 
dipping all over into water, would be an easy, 
good way to wash ; so we got those clothes, 
and dipped them all over into water, and hung 
them here to dry. The young folks said that 
the Lord was with them in the water; and we 
concluded that w^as the reason why they dried 
so quick; and we tried to, see how^ quick we 
could dry the clothes ; but the Lord Avas not 
with them, and they dried slowly. 

Mrs. C, — I suppose, Mary, you didn't know 
that those baptized persons changed their gar- 
ments before they came to the fire. You have 
all but ruined these clothes, Mary. They are 
full of dark streaks dried in. 

Jonny said. Mother, don't mourn ; we had 
" a good conscience ;" but, mother, Dr. Deep- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 



water says that John's baptism is christian 
baptism ; if so, Avhy were twelve men, that had 
received John's baptism, sometime afterward 
baptized in Jesus's name ? And the Doctor 
says that baptism is the door into the church, 
and to the Lord's table. Wasn't Simon the 
sorcerer well baptized? but when he was knowUj 
was his baptism, for him, such a door ? Don't 
God say, " Let a man examine himself, and so 
let him eat of that bread, and drink of that 
cup?" ^ If a baptized sorcerer wont examine 
himself, why not have some of the best folks 
examine him ? Would God trust a bad man 
to examine himself? As though the Lord had 
said, See to it that all examine themselves right. 
Is not this the doov-latch ? But, is not Christ 
the Door ? Mother has read, ''These things 
saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that 
hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no 
man shutteth ; and shutteth, and no man open- 
eth ; — behold, I have set before thee an open 
door, and no man can shut it." Now, are not 
Dr. Deepwater and Dea. Broadhead a little 
meddlesome ? Please tell me. You say. Chil- 
dren should not be meddlesome ; and they call 
. themselves children. 

The Bible says that Christ was ^' made under 
the law," and that "the law was given by 
Moses." Does that law say that Moses ever 

6 



84 UNCLE IS^ATHAN ; OR, 

dipped any body into the water all over? Does 
it, mother ? 

Mrs, C' — No, my child ; but how can I 
break my covenant with Christ's only true 
church, and be cast out into the world ? 

Mother, I think the heathen baptizo is quite 
a bandage over your eyes. Dr. Deepwater says, 
Think and act for yourself; that is, just as 
long as you think and act exactly as he does. 
Charming good man ! Mother, why, along 
back, has the Doctor been calling me Preco- 
ciom ? I don't like that name ; 'tisa't my 
name, is it mother ? 

As Mrs. Canfield's reserve toward little Jon- 
ny, was to him at times quite distressing ; and 
as he had an opportunity now and then, he had 
a talk wath Uncle Nathan. Said Jonny, Do 
you know. Uncle Nathan, that my mother is the 
best woman in the world ? 

Uncle N. — What makes you think so, Jonny? 

0, she prays so, you w^ould think God is 
stooping down from heaven to earth to hear her, 
when she takes us, children, away alone every 
day. But she don't tell us every thing. I wish 
I could always look right into her heart. I can't 
tell you half her talk with" God. She prays, 
Lord, may I be circumcised w^th the circum- 
cision of Christ, in putting off the body of the 
sins of the flesh ; and ever be buried with 
Christ by baptism into the death of the body 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 85 

of sin ; being always planted in the likeness of 
his death ; and be forever risen with Christ 
through living faith. Give nie the life-giving 
baptism of the Holy Ghost. God of my fa- 
ther Abraham, thou hast said, ''I will be a 
God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." 
Blessed Jesus, thou didst say, when parents 
brought infants to thee, ''Suffer little children 
to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such 
is " thy kingdom. Give me hands of faith and 
love, that I may reach up my little ones into 
thy tender arms. Why should I ever treat Jor- 
dan's Vw^aters as if holier than those blessed 
arms of thine ! In passing through Jordan, 
^YhY should I leave my little ones behind ? Lord, 
hast thou not, by thy servant Paul, called the 
children of thy people " holy " ? not holy in 
hearty but holy in consecration; and for what 
better purpose were Jordan^s holy waters ever 
used ? Does our superstitious regard for holy 
Jordan exceed that of " the man of sin " for 
holy w^ater ? Lord, have I made an idol of 
profane baptizo; and to this idol sacrificed my 
children ? (But how can I break my church- 
covenant?) My children are my household, my 
family ; and w^hy, Lord, do my brethren make 
such untirable efforts to have certain households 
mean regenerate ones ? as though designing to 
help thee out of the trouble of appearing to 
have unregenerate children of believers bapti-^ 



86 UNCLE NATHAN ; OH, 

zed. Paul baptized household after household; 
and it takes Baptist eyes to see that all in those 
households were regenerate. 

Uncle Nathan, my mother has been reading 
a book written by Dr. Lu ; and she says,' ho 
proves the baptism of believi rs households, i.e., 
families, to be as true as the Bible. So she 
thanks God and takes courage to pray, Lord, 
although with hands as weak as Jordan's wa- 
ters, may my faith take hold on thy promise^ 
and on the regeneration of my family. Blessed 
Lord, is Jordan's water holier than thy arms ? 
Into thy blessed arms, I put my children ; al- 
though iholy Jordan should say to each of them, 
"I am holier than thou." 

Uncle Nathan, it would do your soul good to 
see my mother smile through her tears, while 
she speaks of her godly grandmother as telling 
her of the Savior laboring for a week of years, 
to '' confirm the covenant with many — the holy 
covenant — to our father Abraham,'' made sure 
by the oath of God, — the blessed covenant to 
bless little ones. Her big tears roll down while 
she says, how could I ever despise the baptis- 
mal token of the covenant, and grieve Jesus 
who died for me and my children ? 

LTncle, we don't act much now as we did, 
when she used to laud spiritual consecration of 
children ; and revile baby-sprinkling. Then, 
like many others, we thought it a fine thing 



STB.ICT AGREEMENT AYITH GOD. 87 



to be noisy before and after solemn meetings ; 
now, assembling in our family, makes us all 
serious. In spite of scorn^ don't baby-sprink- 
ling mean something good ? and is it not very 
naughty to treat it as being worse than nothing? 
My mother finds that a right use of it begins 
to do us no little good already. As she talks 
and prays now, I think she will have us all 
sprinkled before longo 



—<*---«>♦<&—»— 



CHAPTER IX. 



KG UNION BETWEEN FIRE AND WATER. 

Uncle Nathan met Bishop Goodenough in a 
hurry ; but he stopped and inquired. What 
questions now, Uncle Nathan ? 

Uncle N. — If you wish, I can ask some, 

1. Is any future event sure to take place^ 
only as God directly, or indirectly, makes it 
certain ? 

2. Does what God Welshes, on the whole, 
should not occur, ever come to pass ? 



88 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

3. Does what God desires, on the v^diole, ev- 
er fail? 

If your answer to these questions, is Yes, 
will you tell me on what plan, God governs, 
or can govern the universe ; Do not imagine 
that we shall forever look on vvith indifference, 
and see the foundations destroyed. ''If the 
foundations be destroyed, what can the right- 
eous do ?— The foundation of God. standeth 
sure ''; then, attempts, that, if successful, 
would undermine it, are to the last degree dar- 
ing, 

Bish, — How do you prove that God direct- 
ly, or indirectly, established the certainty of 
sin ? 

Uncle N. — He purposely phiced moral 
agents where he k?ieio^ that without constraint, 
acting according to their own choice, they 
would disobey his most reasonable commands ; 
hence his "• grace W'hich w^as given us in Christ 
Jesus before the world began ;" (i. e., given 
us, in divine pre- ordinance ;) .had he not so 
nuieli as indirectly established the certainty of 
sin; as, without him, it could not be estab- 
lished at all ; Eeason teaches that his grace 
in Christ would not be given us, till ofter the 
w^orld began ; I say, indirectly ; for, let none 
speak as though the Lord ever decreed to 
tempt <iny to sin. The only safe v/ay to come 
at this subject, is by revealed positives, and 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 89 

negatives ; not by a philosophy lacking di- 
vine illuminaticn^ yet employed to set exact 
bounds. 

Bish, — If God, directly, or indirectly, es- 
tablished the certainty of sin, why does he 
blame the sinner for committing it? 

Uiick N. — Sin is a lorong design against 
•what is right. God has no sucli design ; but 
the directly opposite, from first to last; ''neith- 
er tenipteth he any man "; and as the God of 
eternrd truth,, who ivill not, cannot lie, he has 
legibly written in the conscience of every mor- 
al agent, that under all circumstances, the de- 
signer of wrong, though but the conscious 
neglecter of right, and he only, is blamewor- 
thy. The Lord over all must have, not mere- 
ly the keys of heaven, but also the keys of 
hell and of death ; yet we have no death and 
hell to fear, excepting as we disagree with Je- 
hovah, in our designs. Our moral agency 
Vvithin the Divine, is '' awheel — in the midst 
of a vv^heel," never clashing, — so God ordains; 
and vvdiy should man so strain his weak eyes, 
as to seem to see, in his Makers system^ 
faults unknown to the clear-sighted ? 

-B/.s7l— What is the difference, if any, be- 
tween blind fate, and the doctrine of eternalj 
immutable, universal, divine decrees ? 

Uncle N, — -Fate being blind^ would be infi- 
nitely wrong ; but the doctrine of decrees is 



90 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

the best plan that Jehovah could devise, and 
its certainty adds unspeakably to its worth. 

Bish, — How do you reconcile '^ necessity'' 
with perfect moral freedom ? 

Uncle N, — God, as He is, exists by necessi- 
ty ; yet He is perfectly free, and rejoicing in 
being what He is, He is A-irtuous in his own 
nature ; and as fallen man, as to his endless 
necessary existence and his freedom, is in his 
Creator's image, it is just that " Whoso (ma- 
liciously) sheddeth man's blood, by man — his 
blood be shed ;" and as every man is necessa- 
rily free, and has his own separate identity, 
and responsibility, the wicked deservedly die, 
while their righteous relatives live forever. 

Bish. — Is human choice necessitated ? 

Uncle N, — It is, and only by freedom, and 
nothing can defeat it ; a double opposite 
choice being perfectly absurd. 

Bish. — Could our choice be different from 
what it is ? 

Uncle iV^.-'Not in any sense that could make 
hypothesis annihilate fact ^ which is a prevalent 
error on the subject. 

Bish. — Does God, in any way, irresistibly 
cause men to sin ? 

Uncle N. — By no means ; yet he so consti- 
tuted our moral agency, that he ever knew 
sin would be one of its certain results, in our 
divinely appointed circumstances. However, 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 



91 



God has done nothing but right with refer- 
ence to our sIu; that is wholly our own, and is 
infinitely evil, because committed Mgainst a 
Being infinitely holy and good ; tlierefore the 
atonement is infinite, withal to maintain the 
honor of tln^ ^'iolated law, in treating the re- 
penting, believing sinner as coriiially as though 
he had never sinned. '' Sin is the transgres- 
sion of the law," and is, of course, the act of 
a moral agent only. Where there is no moral 
agency, th(u^e is,^ therefore, no law ; and 
'^ where thei-e is no law, there is no transgres- 
sion" attribured ; but at what period our mor-. 
al agency eommences, is not revealed; and 
mortals are not wise enough to discover it. 

Bish — What caused satan to commit his 
first sin ? 

Uncle N. — He must have aimed to rise 
above his own proper sphere. 

BlsJi — When will these vexed questions bo 
fully set at rest ? 

U/icle N, — Never ; if the Aroiinijin, as 

such, is right ; for he will forever need to be 

adjusting what is overturned by " Free Will^ 

and contingency ;" as it is, they w-ill never be 

fully set at rest, till they are idlfairli/ settled ; 

. and the shortest and best method is to have 

\ unbounded confidence in God. Why Armin- 

ians should be hotly jealous of divine decrees, 

^[ is a question worthy of serious consideration. 



m 



92 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Bish. — Does it involve Cliristian cliaracter ? 

Uncle N. — Does it not ? For one, I was 
by nature an Aroiinian, and as such, I bitterly 
cursed the God of the Galvinist ; and it is said 
to be right to judge others by ourselves ; but 
when I had only a perishable religion, I was 
by no means qualified to testify against the 
God of the predestinarian. But not long ago, 
a prof me, wicked son of a noted class-leader 
of yours, told me, in his father's presence, 
that in your sermon, that day, he observed 
you side with Esau, and that you '^ put it on 
to Jacob about right ;" and that the impeni- 
tent heard you gladly, which was thought to 
augur well. 

The Bishop said, I must be in haste. Good 
bye. Uncle Nathan. Then he put whip and 
spars to his Bucephalus-horse, and went off in 
a hurrv to a ^eat meeting;. 

The next night. Uncle Nathan dreamed 
about rdndmills. He saw Arminius raised 
from the dead arrayed like a king, and every- 
thing about him enchanting ; but the bones of 
John Calvin were broken up, and so attached 
to windmills, in every direction, as to make a 
most horrible clattering, which frightened mul- 
titudes to take refuge under the banner of 
the risen Arminius; — the banner was covered 
with such inscriptions as, 
FREE WILL- GRACIOUS ABILITY! ^ 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 



0^ 



wonl. ^ -alculated to make men think well 
of themselves. 

On the windmills^ were inscribed, in eharac- 
ters horrible enougli to frighten demons out of 
their senses. 



m\] 



\l\ 



ifisTiei 



IjI/ i 6 3 



"T¥I? A nT Tb A MW ATI ilT¥ ! ! ! ! ! 



® O O Q O 



Many were amazed that the bones of one 
man shonld make a noise so tremendous, age 
after age ; but the bones attached to those 
windmills, and reputed as John Calvin's, w^ere 
enough for the fabled giant to have, that 
shouldered and held up the heavens. The 
noise seemed real, and waked up Uncle Na~ 
than, an;l he attended the last evening of the 
great meeting, and saw there many young 
people from various denominations, and most 
of them did little but stare at him. 

Gre:it tifjrts were m.ide by the ministers, 
that did much to tickle the, gracious abilify of 
numbers into bodily action. Near the close of 
the meeting, the mourners were invited to the 
altar. While stanza after wstanza was sung, 
the Bishop, with what a shrewd old woman 
called 'the heavenly tone,' w^as crying. Come 
forward to the altar,— Come right forward, and 
kneel dowui before the altar ; — a plenty of 



94 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

agents also were coursing through the congre- 
gation, compelUng, if possible, all the sad, and 
all the gay mourners to throng the ''blest al- 
tar ;" the solicitors urging, till no more would 
consent to be mourners in that Zion. While 
one, and sometimes numbers, screamed loudly 
in praying ; the Bishop was round among all 
the mourners, inquiring of each, to this effect ; 
' Don't you feel better? Give glory to God 
for what you have got ; that is the way to get 
more. Can't you rejoice ? "Blessed are they 
that mourn; for they shall be comforted." 
Don't you begin to feel comforted a little ? ' 

After the season of prayer, the Bishop said, 
All the mourners, who have been comforted 
during this meeting, may rise ; and repeatedly 
requested all such to rise up. When they were 
all counted, the Bishop announced, 

Eighty six have been converted to God dur- 
ing this meeting. (Glory to God.) 

Uncle Nathan was grieved ; and the Bishop 
invited him to make some remarks. He rose 
and said, Had there been no Gody no event 
could ever occur ;"but a God there is, ''Declar- 
ing the end from the beginning, and from an- 
cient times the things that are not yet done, 
saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do 
all my pleasure." Hence, of him, and to him, 
and through him, (Rom. 11 : 36,) are all events 
actually occurring, past, present and to come. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 95 

But events are not God^ who ' is of purer eyes 
than to behold evil/ but with the utmost de- 
testation. He is the Searcher of hearts, and 
saith, ''Be not deceived/' 

The Bishop, and others, manifested great 
uneasiness, and turning to El(]er Hopewell, the 
Bishop said, in a lov/ tone, The Lord stop the 
mouth of the gaiusaver. All at once, the El- 
der began as though he would utter unutterable 
groans, that then became Yv^onderfuUy conta- 
gious. Some cried, The Lord help. The noise 
was so gi'eat that Uncle Nathan stopped ; for 
he could not hear his own voice. In a moment, 
all was still ; and the Bishop pronounced tho 
benediction. 

In going out. Elder Hopewell said to a Uni- 
versalist minister, wdiom he mistook for a Meth- 
odist preacher. Brother, if that obstinate Na- 
than had not been here this evening, we should 
have numbered some over a hundred converts- 
Univ, — I suspect we have converts enough 
for once ; and if w^e get them all on to our 
class-paper, and keep one quarter of them for 
six months, from backsliding, we shall do 
bravely. But how came you to be taken with 
such a colic, the moment the Bishop moved 
his lips a little, and gave you a wink ? 

Elder H. — With all my gracious ability, I 
was never able to digest a particle of John Cal- 
vin '; it distresses me nearly to death. lam 



96 UNCLE NATHAN ; Or., 

willing to have God foreordain Arminiar/ism, 
but not Calvinism. As to groaning, '' where 
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," and 
you knovv^ where the Spirit of the Lord is among 
us, we, Zvlethodists, have all full liberty to groan 
and shout as much as we please. 

An unlearned, honest Quaker, said to the 
Elder, Thee mistakes thy man. He is a Uni- 
versalist preacher ; but! must tell thee, that I 
have been here all through the meeting, wait- 
ing ff3r the Spirit ; but I waited in vain. 

Elder H. — Bless the Lord ! when I am in 
such a meeting as we have here enjoyed, I 
never have to wait long for the Spirit. 

Quaker, — I know thee always seem> to have 
what thee calls the Spirit, at thy command ; 
but it is not so with me. 

A Campbelite exclaimed, I have the advan- 
tage of you both ; for I have followed Christ 
into Jordan ; my baptism saves me ; I carry 
the word in my pocket, and whenever I open 
it, I find the Spirit in the loord. 

Quaker, — Does thee carry the Spirit in thy 
pocket '? 

Camp, — -I have often wished to have brother 
Clearall answer that question a little more to 
my satisfaction. 

Uncle Nathan overheard them, and pressing 
the Bible to his heart, and looking up to heav- 
en, he said, ^' Uphold me with thy free Spirit, 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 97 

then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and 
sinners shall be converted unto thee." 

The Bishop came to Uncle Nathan, and said, 
Sir, it is wrong, and inexpedient, directly or 
indirectly, before the world, to treat Armin- 
ianism as false ; in our view% it is '^ a tree to 
be desired to make one wise." Look at its 
fruit as exhibited in our '' Doctrines and Dis- 
cipline. —In 1729, two young men in Elngland, 
reading the Bible, saw they could not be saved 
without holiness, foUov/ed after it, and incited 
others so to do. In 1737, they saw likewise, 
that men are justified before they are sanctified; 
but still holiness w^as their object. God then 
thrust them out to raise up a holy people. These 
are the w^ords of Messrs. Wesleys themselves." 

Respecting ''themselves''? inquires Uncle 
Nathan. 

Bish. — Hear more. ' ' We believe that God's 
design in raising up the preachers called Meth- 
odists, in America, was to reform the continejit, 
and spread Scripture holiness over these lands." 
Read this in our Discipline. Said the Bishop, 
Romanists vainly boast of holiness on earth as 
being peculiar to themselves ; but be it known 
to you and to all, that it is not so v/ith us, 
Arminian Methodists ; for we have possessed 
all the " scripture holiness," Avhich we have 
professed, and that wdthout boasting. We have 



98 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

a vast amount of holiness, for which you give us 
little credit. 

Uncle N. — The Lord make Scriptural holi- 
ness among you and others, a thousand fold 
more than what is now manifest ; but who 
claims the greater amount of holiness? the 
Pope? or the " perfect" Arminian ? perfect 
in what but holiness ? Saying,. ''I am perfect," 
would prove Job, or the Pope, or the Calvin- 
isfc, '^perverse;" and why not t'le Arminian? 
who, accordin^ix to his own priiioiples, styles 
himself, on earth, '' perfect," wlKni he reaches 
the acme of his stature, as a saint. In Scrip- 
tore, "perverse" is used in no very good 
sense. (See Job 9 : 20. Prov. 17 : 20 and 28 : 
18.) The Catholics, according to their own 
Douay Bible, maintain a sortof mo lern divine 
personal election; but it is limited to their own 
sect, like your Arminian election, in what you 
quoted from your Discipline. Now I would 
ask, If ArmJnianism is true ; is nut Calvinism 
necessarily felse ? 

Bish. — Yes ; and that is what we have ever' 
designed Calvinists should admit, at least, by 
their silence; they are fast so doing, and you 
can do nothing to prevent them. But why do 
you slander Arminianism ? 

Uncle N, — Not a tenth part of the bad fruits 
of Arminianism, that I have wilncssed, have I 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 99 

ever immed. Many others have seen, much 
more than I ; and depend upon it, sooner or 
later, they will testify. 

Bisk. — Should we begin to show the bad- 
ness of Calviaism, we should not know where 
to stop ; the doom of it should be sealed for- 
ever, for its element of infant damnation. 

Uncle N, — My position is, That element has 
no necessary connection w^ith Calvinism. 

Bisk. — I have heard Calvinists preach it, 
more than once. 

Uncle N. — -Often have I heard bona fide 
Calvinism from the mouths of Arminians ; and 
do they not thus, (rs you speak,) "put in for 
a share " of the doom ? 

Bish. — -Should we begin to show Calvinistic 
mischief that you will not dmy^ you would soon 
turn pale. 

Uncle N,—Ye began, long ago ; but Anti- 
nomianism has ever been your burden. I con- 
fess that Arminianism has always appeared to 
me to be water-proof against Antinominism^ 
whether by sprinkling, by pouring, or by sub- 
mersion. To you, these modes are very familiar. 

Bish.—l know that among Calvinists, in 
spite of their principles, as in the family of 
Jeroboam, is ''some good thing;'' and do?i'i 
forget to pray for my son Simon, 

Eider Hopewell had stood musing awhile ; 
then he gave the man, whom he had mistakeB 
7 



100 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

for a Methodist, the parting hanrl, snying, 
Brother, I \vould much rather be a Uiiiversalist 
than a Calvinist. Farewell. 

Univ. - Farewell, brother. 

Bish. — We all maintain that the impenitent 
are strnngely inclined to sin ; but why does 
Uncle Nathan deny that their ivill is also free; 
to holiness ? 

Uncle N. — Facts divinely revealed settle 
the question. Who are better by nature, than 
those to whom Jesus said, ''Ye will not come 
to me, that ye might have life " ? 

Bish. — Without a gracious ability, how can 
fallen man be a moral agent ? 

Uncle N. — God, unaided by any human de- 
vice, so treats him ; and why not with propri- 
ety ? If justice requires the Lord to give man a 
gracious ability, in order to make him a moral 
agent, is not such grace, in fact, no grace ? as 
without it, you would have us not accountable, 
and with your gracious ability, we should uso 
our own fund, and not the grace of the gospel. 
This perfectly coincides with your self-election, 
and your dubious perseverance. Have you a 
gracious ability to serve God and Satan ? or, 
have you two opposing abilities? if so, which 
is the stronger? and is it with, or without this 
ability, that ' the carnal mind is enmity against 
God, and cannot be subject to his law?' As 
all sinners are alike by nature, and none will 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 101 

accept of Christ as offered, your rejection of 
wSpecial grace compels you adopt the only re- 
maining sclieme, that of a perishable religion, 
unless you embrace Universalism. 

Bish.—'Fov me^ any thing but old Calvinism. 



--♦--<<!»-l!M«»— 1 



CHAPTER X. 

L MODERATE CALVINISM; BY SOME CALLED A 
RARE CASE. 

At Jamesville, some peculiar ministers got 
^gether, calling themselves Moderate Calvin- 
ists, who undertook to exceed the Methodists. 
Uncle Nathan was there ; but he was prevent- 
ed from taking only an inconsiderable part in the 
exercises. Measures upon measures were the 
order of the day. All seemed very harmonious, 
for great caution was used that nothing should 
be said or done, however plainly revealed in 
Scripture, that would have the least tendency 
to divide them ; yet many strange things were 
uttered, the efiect of which never ceased to be 



102 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

seen and felt afterward. They called it a 
Pentecost, such as had not been since Peter 
preached at Jerusalem. The same day the 
meeting closed, were addled to them about three 
hundred souls. A Caivinist would find no 
fiiult with their Articles of Faith. 

The first that came forward to unite with 
ihe church, were the ricli — men '^of influence,'' 
and honorable, women, adepts in all modern 
fashions. They felt very much at home with 
the church, but numbers of them could by no 
means subscribe to infant baptism. So the 
charch made a wave-otfering of infant baptism, 
before the Lord, waving it out of the v:ay. Some 
requested to be submerged. As baptism is 
'' the answer of a good conscience towards 
Ood,'' and not a doubt was suffered to rise but 
that they had such a conscience ; though none, 
like Zaccheus, restored wdiat they had taken 
by "-' false accusation^'' that being, at best, but 
the part of an immoderate Caivinist; the request 
was voted reasonable, and must therefore be 
granted. 

Another caste came forward, not bigoted in 
favor of blackamoors, nor sticklers for a Maine 
Temperance-law, unless amended^ {out of ex- 
istence^) but so strongly devoted were they to 
freedom^ that to keep their conscience good, 
a line of their own dictation must be added to 
the articles. What fedled to be right, in this 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 103 

request, \va.s soon set right by voting, that 
without the fonnaiity of adding the line, the 
request should be understood as granted. Only 
one voted for it, and none against ; therefore 
it was declared to be a vote. 

Another band of lovers of the church as their 
home, came forward, but they could not bear 
election; as a token of love to such conscien- 
tious brethren, election was made a w^ave- 
ofFering. 

Others loved the church so dearly, that while 
on earth they desired no better home, but they 
were much afraid of sin; they believed that 
the doctrine that Whosoever is bom of God, 
dolh not, cannot commit the sin unto death, is 
very dangerous. The church voted that such 
sin-fearing souls must not be rejected : but 
they still avowed a godly jealousy for the pu- 
rity of their Articles. 

One loved the church beyond measure, and 
said that he prayed night and day for the sal- 
vation of a// men. We have, said he, the au- 
thority of a distinguished Professor in College, 
that though none can pass the impassable gulf, 
fixed between hell and Abraham's abode, yet 
all can be carried over it, very easily. See 
what modern invention has done to modify the 
Bible. If Paul was a ' Partialist,' how horri- 
ble he must have been to wish, ''I would they 
were even cut off which trouble you." An 



104 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

* Impartialist' wishes well to aJL The churcli 
voted that tMs wonderfully loving man of all- 
prayer, should be received as a great treasure. 

Three, loving all in gcnerah so ardently as to 
love none in particular^ related experiences not 
a little peculiar, and by many called remarka' 
ble; they professed downright honesty in their 
religion, whatever it may be in time or eternity. 
Honesty w^as thought to be so scarce in these 
days of moderately Calvinistic backsliding, 
that the church took in the triad of honest, lov- 
ing brethren, as a hungry fish takes in a hook 
well baited. 

Another was such a lover of the Bible, that 
one Bible did not satisfy him ; he conld not 
sleep without a Mormon bible under his pillow. 
None against and one for him, put him safely 
into the church. 

Two were so fond of the church, and of what 
is Apostolic, that they would willingly be Arch- 
bishops, to keep up the holy succession. Men 
of views so elevated must, of course, be re- 
ceived. 

Six or eight believed Christ is god ; but not 
'' The true God." So exalted v>x^rethey, that 
they must be devout worshippers of ' the only 
true God ;' and they pitied all that were not of 
their mind. Such little sinners too were they, 
that for a Savior, they needed but the dwarf 
of a Son, in comparison of his Father, and that 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 105 

Son uiiiler age ; their Holy Ghost being no 
ghost at all. Said a member of four score and 
five, Brethren, a pygmran^ fi little atonement, 
little sinners and a little saviour, go together, 
and make a dwarfish religion, not worth hav- 
ing, and it is rejected by such as account 
themselves the chief of sinners ; but he was 
declared 'out of order'; yet so high-souled 
were these mighty little sinners, so dignified 
in their nature, that they scorned to own any 
Being as Supreme, except One worthy of their 
own great dignity. So poor is the Christ in them 
the hope of glory, of whom, but them, can it 
in truth be said, ' Blessed are the poor in spirit; 
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven " ? Were 
they fools, they might be ansv/ered according 
to their folly ; but they are wiser than seven 
men that can render a reason ; their stability 
and gracefulness^ let none call in question, for 
they are as stable and as graceful as little lulls 
skipping like lambs before the Loud. What 
ails them? said one. Most impertinent ques- 
tion this ; for what can ail nothing ? No ; they 
are a great something ; for their wind fills sails 
that reach every port but one, and reasoning 
with them about that port, is all out of the 
question; for who would have the presumption 
to reason with those whose iundamental rule is, 
to be guided by the whirlwind, in which they 
expect, as high-souled Elijahs, to ride safely 



106 UNCLE KATIIAN ; OR, 

up into the highest heavens ? The ehurch hes- 
itated ; bat it was soon proved from the Bible, 
that " chjirity believeth all things/' so these 
were cordially received. 

A few offered themselves as far-seeing guides 
to the church, maintaining that the Godhead 
reallij suffered in making the atonement. The 
oldest man in the church, replied, " Christ 
hath suffered for us in the fleshy being put to 
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit; 
he was crucified through weakiiess, yet he liv- 
eth by the power of God ; we are sanctified 
through the offering of the body of Jesus 
Christ once for all; his own self bare our sins^ 
in his own bodij on the tree; we were reconciled 
to God by the death of his Son ; reconciled in 
the body of his flesh through death; through 
faith in his blood; the Woe// of Jesus — cleanseth 
us fi'om all sin ; we have redemption through 
his blood; by his own blood, he entered in once 
into the holy place, having obtained eternal 
redemption for us ; — without shedding of blood 
is no remission ; — thou wast slain and hast 
redeemed us to God by thy blood; Feed the 
church of God which he hath purchased with 
his oivn blood''; his virtual, not hypostatical 
blood ; for God is a Spirit; and even n created 
'' spirit hath not flesh '' and blood. God can- 
not die; '' but we see Jesus, who teas mode a 
little lower than the angels for the suffering of 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 107" 

death, {Mark the foregoing clause,) crowned 
with glory and honor, that he by the grace of 
God should taste death for every man." Had 
God suffered, could he suffer the death neces- 
sary to make an atonement? but if he suffered 
at all, why, being injinile^ did he not suffer 
infiniteli] unto death ? That the Godhcjid suf- 
fered virtually^ not essentially, is evident from, 
the pass:iges quoted ; and the virtual suffer- 
ing of the Godhead was doubtless all that was 
needed to make the atonement the greatest 
and best possible. 

Some hinted that the old gentleman meant 
well, but that being in his dotage, be was not 
to be regarded ; so the church gladly receiv- 
ed the far-seeing guides to be ' 'instead of 
eyes ;" as Moses said to Ilobab. 

fdost of those added to the church, appe^a'ed 
to be aiming at greatness, not at gGodncss,- — 
seldom looking up as if to see how insignificant 
they were in the sight of the Lord, who has 
complacency in none but the good. 

S::me young men entered the church with 
great eclat, as being profound in divine erudi- 
tion, having a plausibly illustrated, but really 
undefined plan for apparently widening the 
way of life, dealino^ much in what thev called 
non-essentials ; as though God were delighted 
with having his favorites non-essentially invent- 
ive ; thus giving unbounded opportunity to all 



UNCLE JNATHAN ; OR, 



concerned to exercise enlarged christian char- 
ity. A few troubled with misgiving respect- 
ing what non-essentials might include, or ex- 
clude, were treated as seek-sorrow's. 

Last of all, came forward a transcendental 
Sabbacist, who loved the church dearly, for 
what she 5/zoz^/6? be, not for Avhat she ?5 ; he 
maintained that when God rested from his lit- 
eral work of creation, he rested once for all; 
and that Emmanuel did the same, when he, in 
six prophetical days, had created his kingdom, 
viz., the new spiritual heavens and " earth, 
wherein dwelleth righteousness ; that the 
Scribes and Pharisees erred fundamentally as 
Sabbatists ; '^For I say unto you," saith Je- 
sus, '' That except your righteousness shall ex- 
ceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Phar- 
isees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom 
ofheaven;" that the w^ay to '^exceed" them, is 
to regard all time as hohj^ keeping an eternal 
Sabbath, that commenced when Christ rose 
from the dead ; that with his people, Jesus 
would then forever rest and be ''refreshed;'' 
for he had said to his disoiples, '' I go to pre- 
pare a place for you ;" and the penitent thief 
was a witness of what Christ created in Para- 
dise, before he came back to earth, that Paul 
also was cjuight up to Paradise, and found 
perpetual Sabbath there ; that the rea- 
son why he came back, w^as to remind Chris- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 109 

tian^ of what they had forgotten, viz., to pray, 
*'Thy will be done in earih as it is in heaven/' 
of perpetual Sahbath, and to act accordingly. 

As the church lacked prodigiously in Sab- 
bath keeping, with the express design to give 
"more abiurdant honor to that part which 
lacked/' they voted almost unanimoudy to re- 
ceive this precious brother, that they might no 
longer have occasion to pray, ^'Ilelp, Lord, 
for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful 
fail from among the children of men /' the 
adage of the church being, If ive have no Sab- 
bath, toe have no religion. 

Uncle Nathan w^ept while he wrote, '' Pub- 
lish not in the streets of Askelon," the subse- 
quent history of such religiousness. God on- 
ly can tell the mischief that will be done by 
ever-varying, moderate Calvinism, ages after 
this church is extinct au'l forgotten. Marvel 
not, if that local church is doomed, whose 
''angel" shuns to 'declare all the counsel 
of God.' Without this, excommunication 
amounts to no more than driving* out house- 
flies, in dog-days. Disregarding a right 
adopled creed is horribly profane ; right vows 
broken, God will require with a vengeance. 
From such \ ows man never can, and God nev- 
er will give a. release. The ' dry bones' of 
moderate Calvinists are reckoned as belonging 
to the Calvinistic body. '' Can these bones 



110 UNCLE NATHAN ; Oil, 

live?'' Noiiibers of their owners died fight- 
ing, as fchej^ weened, the Lord's battles ; but 
whether it is so put on record above, will be 
known hereafter. 



< " O ^ fO — i>— 



CHAPTER XI. 



UNION OF NEW AND OLD LEAVEN ATTEMPTED, 
AND SECTARIAN FRUIT BITTER. 

Once and again, Unele Nathan drenmed 
that he was stunned with the noise of all sorts 
of trumpets calling men to a great UNION 
CONVENTION. Many of the wise and good 
flocked together, and not a few appeared as 
though they had met a delegation from 'heav- 
en, bringing perice to earth -and good will to 
men. But numbers there discovered a strange 
scent in e^ich other's breath, that of some be- 
ing so odorate of black fleshy as to be int(der- 
able ; but each would h;ive it that his own 
breath was quite as sweet as that of his neigh- 
bor. The meeting was proclaimed glorious 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. Ill 

the \Yorl(i over ; but the remembrance of so 
many a breath variously tainted, and as strange 
as Job's breath was to his v^ife — sickened 
most at the thought of meeting again. With- 
out much change for the better, though noble 
exceptions were to be found, arm;Ie3 under va- 
rious banners, went forth to conquer the world 
for Emmanuel. Here and there a single ban- 
ner had on it very peaceable pictures, that 
could not fight, if they would, — -of a calfy a 
lamb and a dove^ and various other animals. 
For reasons that they called best, on the whole, 
the armies truniDeted their own, and each 
other's good deeds, and glorious success, so 
loud and so long, that multitudes imaghied 
that Grabriers trumpet wouhl be the next that 
would ravish their e;irs. It was a day not to 
be despised, but was one of small things ; for 
all ha,d occasion to inquire, ^'By whom shall 
Jacob arise ? for he is small." One evil was, 
most that professed to forsake all for Christ, 
failed to take home his command, '' Go ye in- 
to all the world, and preach the Gospel to ev- 
ery creature," in your own persons, or in giv- 
ing effectual aid to godly missionaries ; I say, 
failed to take the cliarge as if given dircctl/j to 
themselves. For this deficiency, various expe- 
dients were substituted ; but none that pleased 
Emmanuel ; therefore their gold and silver 
cankered, and their garments were moth-eaten. 



112 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Bid what was unspeakably the most Deeded 
for the universal spread of the gospel in its 
power, WMS that the watchmen should so see 
eye to eye, as to lift up the voice together. So 
loud and long Avere the discordant cries of 
'' Ml] kingdom come— M^ will be done," — as 
to frighten Uncle Nathan out of his dream ; 
and his sleep had been unpleasant. From the 
effects of this discord, he did not soon recover. 

After a long time. Uncle Nathan had a 
* dream that was not all a dream,' that he 
went to a Hospital, where '' were many phy- 
sicians of no value," divided into classes, all 
agreeing to disagree, and not to think alike, 
any more than they look alike; and lie w^as in- 
consolable, wdiile he beheld them all agreed 
in love, each especially to his own class, pro- 
fessedly by no malice aforethought, dividing 
the living Christ, each class claiming all it can 
get honesilijj (if convenient.) as its own, and, so 
binding up the parts, as to have them heal sep- 
arately, and remain divided ; yet all their 
healing was but healing ^' slightly." As soft 
as zephyr's whispering, they spoke, and anon 
as loud as thunder, they cried, '' VeacQ, pcace^'' 
but in such a work of death, there is no peace. 

Threatening vengeance, and brandishing 
their dissecting knives around Uncle Nathan's 
heart, they said, What you wdsh is to have us 
all become confounded baby sprinklers. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WItH GOD. 113 

Uncle N, — Alas for the babies of such as 
exhibit your disposition ; should the poor 
things " live out half their days." You claim 
a right, each to his own way ; but you are in 
plain sight of Jehovah, and in his pr(3sence, 
you have no right to believe a lie, though told 
you by an angel from heaven ; you will find 
that believing satan, is not the way to be 
saved. Who but Abaddon w^ould divide Christ 
alive ? 

Doctors. — Do you think to teach us ? We 
fear to kill you, lest we should get the mark of 
a Cain. So saying, they pierced him w^ith their 
dissecting knives,— -thrust him out headlong, 
and barred the doors against him. His wounds 
were not dangerous. He rose and walked 
through the streets, and many a finger of scorn 
was pointed at him covered with dust and 
blood, and wdth such taunting as this ; You 
are w^ell served, you old pest ; you have got 
your hair finely powdered with dust. Had 
you treated the Doctors kindly, you would 
have received nothing but kindness in return. 

Uncle Nathan mildly replied, You may one 
day know, as I do now, something of the hit- 
ter spirit of such as " cause division " of what 
God has joined together j by their fair speeches, 
error and delusion, mingled with so much 
truth, that ''if it w^ere possible, they shall de- 
ceive the very elect/' 



114 UNCLE NATHAN; OU, 

Taunters.—Yes, '^ elect,'' babys prinkler! 
You would have us ride on your hobbies. The 
Doctors served you just right. 

As Uncle Nathan came near Mr. Canfield's, 
he met Jonny, who cried out. What is the 
matter, Uncle Nathan? and grasping his hand, 
added. Come right into the house, and my fa- 
ther and I will wash off the dust and blood, and 
my mother will get some nice clean rags and 
bind up your face. 



CHAPTER XII. 

WOMAN NOT MADE IN VAIN. 
[to be concluded.] 

The next day, Mrs. Canfield showed Uncle 
Ifathan a letter that she had written to Dr. 
Deepw^ater, as follows : 

Rev. and Dear Sir, — ^Since I heard you 
preach from Lu. 7: 28—30, 1 have endeavored, 
in the fear of God, impartially to re-examine 
the subject of baptism. You know God has 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 115 

said that " His Son" was '^ made under the 
law ;'' and that the law was given by Moses/' 
who has ever been, not a Greek, but a Hebrew; 
and the law is to be interpreted accordingly. 
Messiah said in truth, ^^I was not rebellious ;'' 
being ' made under the law,' he remained un- 
der it, till he said, " It is finished." The night 
before he was crucified he kept the Mosaic 
Passover. If the kingdom of heaven on earth, 
when John baptized, were as glorious as it is 
above, it would not make Jesus rebellious 
against the Mosaic law, though heaven and 
hell should combine to separate Christ and 
Moses, vain would be their combination; should 
we borrow the strongest language of the high- 
est hea^ven, v/e could not fully exhibit the de- 
terminate spirit of Jesus in observing the Mosaic 
ordinances. 

Much have you said about the learned^ and 
the original oibaptizo. Was not Moses as learn- 
ed as Homer ? The martyr, -Stephen, says, 
'- Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the 
Egyptians." Has he not as good a claim as 
Homer to originality ? But when did Grod re- 
ject Moses, and place a Homer in his room ? 
It is recorded of Moses, after his deaths ^ 'There 
arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto 
Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." 
Before his death, Moses said to Israel, '' The 
Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet 



116 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like 
unto me ; unto him ye shall hearken." Of 
what Moses said and did, the Jews, good and 
bad, often heard. "For Moses of old time 
hath in every city them that preach him, being 
read in the synagogue every Sabbath day.'' (Acts 
15 : 21. Many great miracles were wrought 
by Moses, by whom, the ' water of separation, 
a purification for sin,' was divinely required to 
be sprinkled upon the unclean, (Num. ch. 19th.) 
which is baptism^ according to the Greek of 
Heb. 9 : 10, 13, 19, and the same Lord, whose 
blood was never that of submersion^ but accord- 
ing to the whole tenor of Scripture, emphati- 
cally, the blood o^ sprinklings said, by Ananias, 
to Saul of Tarsus, ''Arise and be baptized and 
wash away thy sins,'' which shows the spiritual 
import of water-baptism ; to Saul was this 
said, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, one ' exceed- 
ingly zealous of the traditions of his fathers ; ' 
a Hebrew, who, toward thirty years after his 
own baptism, said to '' the chief priests and all 
their council," yea, '' Paul, earnestly behold- 
ing the council, said, Men and brethren, I have 
lived in all good conscience before God until 
this day." He was not a practical forsaker of 
Moses, as had been pretended ; (Acts 21 : 21.) 
well then might he unconfused, earnestly behold 
every /ace of that Hebrew council. 

Paul is the Hebrew, who saith, to Biblical 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD, 1 17 

Baptists, '^ Now we, brethren, as Isaac w^s, 
are the children of promise." Isaac was ^he 
the cliild of promise as the child of our believ- 
ing father Abraham, and as such, he received 
the token of the covenant given to Abrahanu. 
and to the infimt Redeemer. To Biblical Bap- 
tists, that Hebrew of a Paul saith, of yoiar 
children^ " Now are they holy;" indubitably a:-. 
as holy as they would be should they have the 
benefit of a heathen baptizo. 

Divine Revelation is proved to us to be au- 
thentic by ihcontestible miracles; '' but John dici: 
no miracle ; (John 10 : 41.) therefore, he could 
not adopt and establish a heoihen baptizo, and 
thus virtually reject the baptism that God, bv 
Moses, ordained and sanctified. 

Christ said expressly, ^' Think not that I am 
come to destroy the law (i.e., of Moses,) or the 
prophets ; I am not come to destroy but t^) 
fulfil.— Jesus Christ was a minister of the cir- 
cumcision for the truth of God ;" and well do 
you say, ^' With the heart man believeih; also 
''circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit;" 
and Scriptural baptism is evidently that of the 
heart in the Spirit ; for God saith, (Ezek. 36 : 
25, 26,) '' Then will I sprinkle clean water 
upon you, and ye ^hall be clean ; a new heart 
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put 
within you. ''—-^' We are the circumcision, which 
worship God in the Spirit;'' but w4th us, a^ 



118 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Baj^tists, what has been more common than 
majdng circumcision with "^ concision^'' as 



PaVil terms it, then fighting it as for life eter- 
nal; ay, fighting it, if possible, as '' Michael 
and his angels fought against the dragon ;" 
and for what ? but to bury infant circumcision 
and infant baptism, as being, not of the heart, 
but as worthless and abominable, —to bury 
them in the same loathed abyss ; then, like 
some of old, with confidence demanding, 
'' What profit is there of circumcision?" and 
as though able to confound earth and heaven, 
we have the boldness to interrogate. What prof- 
it is there of baby-sprinkling ? A noyice might 
ask, in reply, What profit is heaven to those 
rejecting it as offered in the Gospel ? Bigots, 
as such^ '' like the heath in the desert, shall 
not see when good cometh; but multitudes of 
godly Pa3dobaptists profess to find, in infant 
baptism, much advantage, every way ; and 
can we mock down their experience ? It was 
Ishmael that mocked Isaac. Elijah should 
never mock only as he is sustained by demon- 
stration, of v/hich our Baptist scheme appears . 
to be destitute. Not Faith keeping the '4ioly 
covenptut," but Unbelief sees lions in the way 
of infant baptism ; and without proof, boldly 
claims that "holy'' in 1 Cor. 7:14, means only 
legitimate. Youvreadily divine, if ''Ao/^ " in 
this instance, m.eans "holy^'' it ruins our Bap- 



STRICT agreeme:^3t with god. 119 

tist system. You ask, Why is not the sancti- 
fied unbelieving parent baptised? 

I answer, "What is said in 1 Cor. 7-14, is 
with special reference to children. God re- 
quires the ojferer, as well as tlie offeree^ in his 
ordinances, to be holjj. See Lev. 6 : IS. 
None but a sinking cause requires that a hus- 
band, for instance, should be made legitiinate^ 
as you speak, by a religious quality of a wife. 
So much do you insist on having Scripture 
properly translated., will you please to trans- 
late 1 Cor. 7 : 14, so as to express what you 
call the exact meaning. A Rev. Dr. of the 
only true church of Christ, on earth, should 
not hesitate fully and defii)itely to exhibit 
wdiat he knoivs to be Scriptural truth. 

You, Sir, maintain that the baptism of the 
Spirit must precede that of w-ater ; but in John 
o : 5, Christ puts ''born of w^ater ' before bom 
of the Spirit, which agrees wdth Ezek. 36 : 25, 
26. You often quote, ^'Repent and be bap- 
tized,'' to which you add, JYr^^^ repent, tlien^ 
be baptized ; bat you seem averse to cjuoting 
the reason, ''For the promise is unto you, and 
to your children.'' According to our doctrine ; 
vvG might as well read, The promise is unto you, 
and to your neighbors^ that is, if theij reyeni. 
You know that ^'Repent and be ba^ptized. For 
the jiromise is irato you^ and to your children,'' 
corresponds with what is recorded in the first 



120 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 



of the five books of Moses. Compare Gen, 
15 : 6, and 17 : 7, 24, and 21 : 4, with Rom. 
4: 9 — 12. Abraham believed, and of course 
repented; then he was circumcised; for the 
promise was to Mm, and to his children ; and 
Peter's quotations from the ancient prophets, 
in his Pentecostal sermon, and in Acts 10th 
Chap., abundantly prove him to be a Biblical 
man of the Abrahaniic and Mosaic stamp. — 
Frequently also you quote ^'Believeth and is 
baptized," to prove the order of faith, and wa- 
ter-baptism ; but in Mar. 16 : 16, ''baptized'^ 
is ranked with saving faith, and therefore is 
the saving baptism of the Spirit, ''Is baptized^'' 
fixes no order of time ; but means, simply, a 
baptized person. The w^ord is denotes no de- 
terminate date ; as ''God is a Spirit." He 
preceded all dates. 

With Christ, let us look back again to Mio- 
ses. '^Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and 
to his disciples, saying, The Scribes and the 
Pharisees sit in Moses\s seat all {all) therefore 
whatsoever {lohatsoever) they bid you observe, 
that observe and do." Again, ''Ye on the 
Sabbath day circumcise a man ; that the law of 
Moses should not be broken.'' Seeing to it 
that the law of Moses be not broken^ they 
were ever on the alert ; and God makes abun- 
dant provision that the golden chciin of his or- 
dinances should be infrangible. The Old Test. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 121 

ends thus, "Remember," a peculiar word this, 
'' Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, 
which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all 
Israel with the statutes and judgments. Be- 
hold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, 
(John the Baptist, who would adhere as close- 
ly to the statutes and judgments of Moses, as 
though the same John were Elijah the Tish- 
bite,) before the coming of the great and 
(h'eadful day of the Lord. And he shall turn 
the heart of the flithers to the children, and 
the heart of the children to their fathers, lest 
I come and smite the earth with a curse/' 
Therefore John's main work, called his bap- 
tism, (Lu. 20 : 4,) had special reference to 
parents and children, not to divide them ; but 
for douig as taught in the statutes and judg- 
ments of Moses. Gabriel told Zacharias, that 
John would go before the Lord, to turn the 
hearts of the fathers to the children;'' and 
Zacharias, filled with the Holy Ghost, informs 
us why John's baptismal ministry relates to 
parents and children, viz., '' to remember,"- — 
See how well God remembers^ " to remember 
his holy covenant ; the oath which he sware 
to our father Abraham." Our Baptist rejec- 
tion of God's " holy covenant" made with our 
father Abraham, however much excused, or 
wickedly denied, is the ' unkindest cut of all,' 
n the infinitely tender heart of the infant- 



122 Ux^CLE NATHAN ; OR, 

loving Eedeemer, the great Antitype of Mo- - 
ses. The Jews knew right well, not that Mo- 
ses ever dipped a person to obey a divine com- 
mand, but they had direct Scriptural proof, 
that he sprinkled persons, (Ex. 24 : 8,) ac- 
cording to God's ordinance. 

That the whole nation of Israel, parents 
and children, were baptized unto Moses in the 
cloud and in the sea, was evidently well un- 
derstood by John the Baptist, " a prophet in- 
deed, " by Paul, and other well informed 
Jews. Paul whites to Corinthian Gentiles, (1 
Cor. 12 : 2.) " Ye know that ye were Gen- 
tiles,'' to these, he says, (1 Cor. 10 : 1, 2) ''I 
would not that ye should be ignorant, . how 
that all our fathers were under the cloud, and 
all passed through the sea ; and were all bap- 
tized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." 
The baptism of a nation of parents and chil- 
dren, is so important, that the Apostle w^ould 
not have Gentiles ignorant of the fact, that so 
deeply concerns the uprisen and the rising 
generation. If that nation, parents and chil- 
dren, were plunged all over into the cloud, 
and into the sea, as Baptists now plunge pro- 
fessed believers into water, so be it ; but 
why, contrary to Scripture, are the children 
shut out from the ordinance ? 

My dear Sir, You are constantly maintain- 
ing, that none but believers' baptism, and that 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 123 

as we hold it, is so plain that an ordinary child 
can easily . understand it ; but you have often 
called my little Jonny very bright ; and he 
gives the subject unwearied attention ; yet he 
finds no evidence from the Bible, as we read, 
and as you read and preach it, that God ever 
told Moses, or John, to plunge persons into 
the water to baptize them. 

Scriptural baptism is so extensive in its 
meaning, that I can well understand why bap- 
tizo is used, though, like circumcise^ and eat 
and drinkj in partaking the Lord's Supper, the 
w^ord baptize^ in an ordinance^ is more limited 
than its /zY^ra/ import might indicate. God's 
w^ay is to do great things with small means. 
Man is given to ostentation. 

If you vvill make our Baptist views plain to 
our little Jonny, we will give you the best op- 
portunity in our power. But I am sorry you 
have so much to say against baby-sprinkling 
as a relic of popery. The most that Catho- 
lics say on baptism, in the Notes, and table of 
References, in their Douay Bible, is on John 
3 : 5, — '' Baptism, and by the word water ^ it 
is evident that the application is necessary with 
the words. Matt. 28 : 19," and ''References, 
— administered bv the Apostles in water, Acts 
8 : 36-38, chap. 10 : 47-48, also Eph. 5 : 26, 
Heb. 10 : 22, 1 St. Peter, 3 : 20-21.'' 

Last week Bishop Goodenough offered to 



124 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

lend me '' Calvin's Institutes/' I inquired 
what use lie made of that work. He replied, 
that for pastime, nothing delighted him more 
than picking the bones of John Calvin. The 
next day one of his class leaders told me, Ir 
was not John Calvin's bones, that the Bishop 
was so fond of picking ; but that he was whip- 
ping th(iold Calvinist, Paul, over John Calvin's 
back. I suspect that you have long been V7hip- 
pingMoses over the back of the Pope. But I 
will most cheerfully retract all this, if to my 
" bright " Jonny, you will make plunging, for 
baptism, clear from the Bible. 

Why do we, Baptists, fly away to the hea- 
then for a baptizo to our liking ; but because 
we find the Bible against us ? The Pharisees 
did not reject John because he did not baptize 
like Moses, but because of his iron morals ; for. 
Jesus said, '' Ye sent unto John, and he bear 
witness unto the truth ;— he was a burning and 
a shining light, and ye were willing for a sea- 
son to rejoice in his light ;" and, when John 
^'saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees 
come to his baptism, he said unto them, gen- 
eration of vipers, who hath warned you to flee 
from the wrath to come ? Bring forth, there- 
fore, fruits meet for repentance. And think not 
to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to 
our father." But one extreme leads to another. 
The Pharisees '' omitted the weio^htier matters 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 



of the law/' and paid tithe of mint, and anise, 
and cummin," that God never recpired. Con- 
trary to Scriptural precept and example, we 
leave our children behind, and as if to make 
amends, we have ourselves plunged all over 
into water. Dear Sir, why not as well take 
boplizo for a text directly, and declarative- 
iy, from Homer, as to attach what you call 
Homer\s meaning to baptizo printed in the 
Bible ? If by shuffling in a foreign meaning 
you can substitute apart of Homer for a part 
of Scripture, why not, on the same principle, 
substitute the whole of Homer for the ivhole of 
divine Eevelation ? But this w^ould spoil the 
game. Our heathen righteousness would then 
exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees. 

But, Doctor, the father of Greek poets is 
against us ; as baptizing in the manner his lake 
was baptized with frog-blood, would not tally 
at all with our practice, only in the view of 
some disordered imagination. Baptists would 
account a Homerist a mangier of baptism, and 
were Homer among us, with his lake baptized 
as it was, he would be in no little danger of 
being cast out of our synagogue, unless, as in- 
consistently as Dea. Broadhead, in every prayer, 
he should thus petition, Alay all the young con- 
verts he immersed into the blood of Christ; a 
crafty way this of urging immersion^ or morQ 
properly, submersion. 



126 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Pardon me, if I write amiss ; if wrong, may 
the Lord forgive me. I have WTitten more 
than I at first intended ; but if you will make 
our Baptist sentiments plain by writing three 
times as much, I shall be very grateful ; for I 
love my brethren and sisters in the Lord. 
Most respectfully yours, 

Maey Canfield. 
Dr. Deepwater. 

Mr. Canfield dreamed, the night after Un- 
cle NathptU came, that he and Dr. Deepwater 
lived when Abraham was about to circumcise 
Isaac. 

Dr, D, — Father Abraham, hold ! a child of 
eight days can't understand circumcision ! 

Abraham. — ^To all that walk mainly by sight 
this is a very dark subject, wdiich I scarcely 
begin to comprehend ; but my consolation is, 
that God understands it. 

Dr. D. — You reason like a baby-sprinkler, 
Father iibraham. 

Mr. Canfield dreamed also that Isaac said, 
before he died, that circumcision had been to 
him a peculiar lesson of faith. 

The next Sabbath, Dr. Deepwater said much 
on infant dedication^ with special reference to 
his own son, named John Baptist, a month old, 
ihen present for the first time at public worship; 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOO. 127 

but none were sure that the child understood 
his father on the spiritual consecration of 
infants. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

A BEAST TO AT ^EVER HAD A HEAD OF HIS OWX. 

Another thing that arrested Uncle Nathan s 
attention, was the cry of Apostolic Succession, 
Like peals on peals of thunder, it rung in his 
ears. From all he could learn, not half of 
the successors of St. Peter, that had been sent 
to Purgatory for their sins, had ever arrived 
at heaven. In his Douay (Catholic) Bible, he 
found the subject of succession treated Vv^ith 
very great caution ; much as it would be, on 
the supposition tha.t the Pope and Priests don't 
believe a word of it, themselves, but use it as 
a trap to catch unwary souls. As the strength 
of Romanism lies in the Head and Horns of 
this succession^ extracts from said Douay Bible 
are here given, with a fev/ brief remarks. 

St. Matt. 16 : 18, 19. ''Thou art Peter ; and 



128 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

upon this rock I will build my church, and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And 
I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of 
heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on 
earth, it shall be bound also in heaven ; and 
whatsover thou shalt loose on earth, it shall b^ 
loosed also in heaven." 

Remabks. — Peter was a good man ; but 
Christ says not a word that expresses, or im- 
plies, the doctrine in question. We have no 
]?roof that Peter means, not Peter alone, but a 
host of successors, some good, some purgatorial, 
and others infernal. If the Pope is essentially 
Peter, then let him, like Peter, slay an Ana- 
nias and Sapphira with words only, and raise 
a Tabitha from the dead in unsuspected cir- 
cumstances. 

St. John 18 : 36. ''Jesus answered. My 
kingdom is not of this world." 

" Table of References. —The church is tlie 
kingdom of Christ." 

St. Luke 1 : 33, ''Of his kingdom there shall 
be no end." 

Dan. 2 : 44—'' The God of Heaven shall set 
up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed. '' 

St. John 17 : 14. "The world hath hated 
them, because they are not of the world ; as I 
also am not of the world." 

Remarks— -Henc^ we learn that Christ, his 
/church, i. e.,, his kingdom, his apostles and 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 129 

successors, if such they have, are not of this 
world — iDorldly succession is all out of the 
question. 

2 Cor. 11 : 13 — 15. Such false apostles are 
deceitful workmen, transforming themselves 
into the apostles of Christ. And no wonder ; 
for Satan himself transform eth himself into an 
angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if 
his ministers be transformed as the ministers of 
justice ; whose end shall be according to their 
works.'' 

2 Cor. 4 : 4. ^'The god of this world hath 
blinded the minds of unbelievers.'' 

St. Matt. 7 : 15, 16. " Beware of false 
prophets, who come to you in the clothing of 
sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 
By their fruits you shall know them." 

Remarks. — The wicked, with the god of this 
world, with Satan at their head, are of this 
world and are known by their conduct. Tho' 
called successors of Peter, at best, they are 
/a/^e successors, and of course, are not acknowl- 
edged of God. 

It may be said, in reply, That the acts of a 
false successor of Peter, are valid, till he is 
regularly i?npeached; and that this cannot be 
done by any out of the church. 

But as Peter has no apostolic successor , no 
impeachment is needed. Don't start, good 
Catholics ; for Peter and his associates, divinely 



130 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

commissioned, have implicitly settled the ques- 
tion ; and in the Douay Bible, the avowed ad- 
vocates of apostolic succession, have set to it 
their approving seal of the cross. In proof of 
no apostolic succession, see 

St. Luke 22 : 14, 28—30, and St. Matt. 19: 
28. ''He sat down and the twelve apostles 
with him. — And you are they who have con- 
tinued with me in my temptations ; and I dis- 
pose to you as my Father hath disposed to me, 
a kingdom ; that you may eat and drink at my 
table in my kingdom ; and may sit upon 
thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. — 
Jesus said to them ; Amen I say to you, that 
you, who have followed me in the regeneration, 
when the Son of man shall sit on the seat of his 
majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats jadg- 
ins: the twelve tribes of Israel." 

Remaeks. — Thus we learn from the Catholic 
Bible, that " seats" are provided for only the 
Apostles themselves. Not a seat is prepared 
for any successor of Peter. Should Popes carry 
their "• seats" with them, they would be burnt 
up in purgatory ; for Peter s apostolic succes- 
sors there cannot but be well nigh burnt up 
themselves ; notwithstanding the benefit they 
derive from "Absolution; (the remission of sins, 
or penance ;) Continency; (having no married 
wife;) Extreme Unction; (anointing with oil in 
the name of the Lord ;) Free Will; Mages; 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 131 

Indulgences; Mass; Prayers for the dead; 
Relics (that are) miraculous ; Penance ; Saints 
ileparted assisting by their prayers ; Apostoli- 
cal traditions; Transuhstantiation; (the real 
presence of the body and blood of Christ in the 
Eucharist ;) Veneration and invocation of the 
Blessed Virgin^ and Good Works meritorious/' 
What less than Romanism as it is, can be 
expected of full grown Free Will, their favor- 
ite ? which Free Will is home-born among 
Romanists ; and who but the spirit of Free 
Will dominant^ " exalteth himself above all that 
is called God, or that is worshipped ; so that 
he as God sitteth in the temple of God showing 
himself that he is God." 



CHAPTER XIV. 



EFFORT TO SAVE SUBMERSION FROM DROWNING ; 
AND, WOMAN NOT MADE IN VAIN. 

[concluded.] 

Uncle Nathan stayed some days at Mr. Can- 
field's, till his wounds began to heal. Mrs. C. 
then received a letter from Dr, Deep water, and 
9 



132 UNCLE NATHAN ; OK, 

she allowed Uncle N. to copy it verbatim, as 
follows : 

Dear Madam^ — In your letter to me, you 
keep aloof from the baptism of the blessed J%- 
sus, who has set us an ' example that we should 
follow his steps.' You know, or ought to 
know that the original meaning of baptizo is 
dip^ in ancient learned Greek writers, and that 
learned Psedobaptists, generally, are on our 
side of the question, though they contradict it 
in their practice. Were they not absolutely 
constrained, they would not make admissions 
directly against themselves, and wholly in our 
favor. Then, what child cannot see that we 
are rights when he understands that ''Jesus was 
baptized of John in Jordan ? — that John also 
baptized in ^non, near to Salim, because 
there was much water there ? — and they went 
down both into the water, both Philip and the 
Eunuch ; and he baptized him'' ? Then they 
came '' up out of the water." Jesus said '' I 
have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am 
I straitened till it be accomplished !" How was 
he overwhelmed in that baptism ! and, '' we 
are buried with him by baptism into death.'' 
If a child does not understand from the preced- 
ing that the whole body is to be wet by dipping j. 
I mistake badly. For a child^ a short letter 
directly to the point, is much better than a 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 133 

long one. As I am writing specially for Jonny, 
I pass-^over in silence, our learned argnments of 
very great weight. Read this to jovly son, and 
please to let me know his reply. 

Tours, most respectfully, 

Downs Deepwater. 
Mrs. M. Canfield. 

P. S.— Baby-sprinkling is evidently not of 
God ; for it withers under reproaches ; or at 
best, it flourishes like thorns and briers, 

J), D. 

In answer to the foregoing, Mrs. C. Avrote : 
Rev. and dear Sir^ — I have read over and 
over your letter to Jonny. He wished me to 
read the whole verse ending with ''steps'': — 
^' for even hereunto were ye called; because 
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an ex- 
ample that ye should follow his steps." Jonny 
said. The Doctor thinks every thing pointing 
right to baptism, whether it ism, or not in the 
Bible ; and what but baptizOy buried^ and the 
like, does he mean by his ''learned arguments"? 
If the Paedobaptists are so much in his favor. 
why don't he let them come to the Lord's Sup- 
per, to pay for it ? About this dippings moth- 
er, my paper kite went down into much water,, 
and it was dipped in the water, and it wasn't. 
hurt a bit. Is the Doctor sure that the men 
and women are wet all over, when he dips them?^ 



134 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Suffer me to speak a word in behalf of my 
little Jomiy. You understand well, that long 
before the Saviour was born, God had written 
to men the great things of His law ; but they 
have counted it a strange thing, withal, that 
out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, Ho 
should ordain strength sufficici^t to begin b) 
still the erroneous ; and when told them, a;^ 
though fools, they are slow of heart to believo 
it. Will not the righteous believe God in His 
word and providence? ''When shall it once be?" 
Now for your aguments. '' Buried with Him 
by baptism into deatli'? You know we do not 
hold to any water-baptism "into death;'' the 
absurdity would justify Catholics in maintaining 
that '' Take, eat ; this is My body,'* proves 
that in the Sacrament, the bread is the real 
body of Christ. But after all your admissions, 
you say that water-baptism includes '' buried;" 
that otherwise, spiritual baptism would not 
admit Sz/r/c/; and what do you? Submerge 
spiritual into literal. Extreme Unction, and 
Purgatory, (Jam. 5 : 14, and 1 Cor. 3 : 15,) 
may well precede or follow your train. Cath- 
olics also, as before intimated, give a striking 
example of assuming that the spirit and letter of 
Scripture are the same; and if correct, they and 
we really eat Christ's body, in the Eucharist. 
Thus you implicitly justify the worst of abom- 
inations, yet stigmatize Pa^dobaptists as Romish. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 135 

This subject requires special attention. Does 
he priest change the evicharistal bread into the 
aead body of Christ ? Such work, and its 
consequences, would not be very desirable ; 
r, does he change it into Christ's limng body ? 
which was never the instrument of sin ; and 
why should not the actual partaker of such a 
body, enjoy sinless perfection forever ? So, if 
we are buried with Christ by Baptism, such is 
oar resurrection from this baptismal burial as 
to make it saving;. 

On the other hand, the bread and wine of 
the eucharist set forth the slain body, \mdi shed 
blood of Jesus, and the water of baptism rep- 
resents the same blood having another aspect, 
with a corresponding design. When Christ 
was dead, unquestionably, it was proper for 
Joseph and Nicodemus to bury him, and on 
divine authority only\ we may use emblems of 
his slain body and shed blood ; but my po- 
sition is, That sub?nergi?ig'emer gent, ov pouring 
water-baptism, having no divine sanction, is 
impious mockerij, however gravely performed, 
and that sepulchral-baptismal resurrection, or 
its sign, was never committed to the apostles 
themselves, Man can kill the body, and bury 
it, but what more can he do ? that he should 
so much as use a sign of sending the dead, or 
living, to hell, or to heaven, would be horri- 



136 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

bly daring, whether done in jest, or in earnest: 
nor less bold is venturing to use a sign of what 
is ascribed to that, and that only, which 
amounts to " the operation of God." Joseph 
and Nicodemus might bury Christ deceased ; 
but God never s^ave them authoritv to use so 
much as a sign of raising him again to life. 
Who but Jesus ever ''called'' a dead man "out 
of his grave " ? You are thunder-struck that 
on election, the Arminian should take the 
place of his Maker; then remember that 
" Christ teas raised from the dead by the glory 
of the Father;'' (Eom. 6 : 4,) and he saith 
to his saints, (Col. 2 : 12,) 'M3uried with him 
by baptism, wherein also ye are risen w^ith him 
through the faith of the operation of God, w^ho 
hath raised him from the dead," — risen with 
Christ through /a?*/A, wdiich is not an overt *<ict. 
We might as well use a sign of sending dead 
men to heaven, as to use the resurrection-sign 
of that baptism expressly ascribed to '' the op- 
eration of Godj {only,) who hath raised'' Christ 
" from the dead." His signs of his own op- 
erations, belong to himself exclusively, unless 
plainly committed to another. Not only did 
God raise his son from the dead, but also -' the 
operation'' of raising his people from the' 
death of sepulchral baptism, is attributed to 
him alone, on divine authority. Imitating 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 137 

such aa '^ operation," is but solemn mimicry, 
— the more solemn, the more profane, because 
the more deceptive. 

Moreover, the outpouring of the Holy Ghost 
never terminated in an ineffectual sign ; but 
the sign, and that of sepulchral baptism 5 
would be liable to fail, in the hands of fallible 
men; like ever -failing tr^nsubstantiation, God's 
signs, and his ''operations," are peculiar to 
himself — that never did, and never can fail. 
Man's pouring, and sepulchral-baptismal signs 
are but counterfeits of what is divine. To 
somewhat honest counterfeiters of Jehovah's 
peculiar signs, having what Paul calls a ''good 
conscience," when they should have a better; 
to such conscientious ones, should be " ex- 
pounded — the way of God more perfectly." 

Of old, and now, God is jealous of overt 
imitation of what he treats as peculiarly his 
own. Respecting a certain "perfume," he 
said, "Whosoever compoundeth any like it, — 
shall be even cut off from his people." Un- 
doubtedly, the form of baptism peculiar to the^ 
Holy. Ghost, and that ascribed directly to "the 
operation of God," should be treated as being 
as inviolable as any perfume ever made upon 
earth. 

Were some administrators able, they might 
attempt, not the most reverently, to be in 
"bodily shape like a dove." I suspect this 



138 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

would not be unparalleled presumptuousness, 
See the following bold position taken without 
reason, without convincing proof by ' 'mighty 
deeds" done (2 Cor. 12 : 12) in confirmation — 
for every high claimer should bring appropri- 
ate credentials. Then, what less than blas- 
phemy is implied, when a Protestant Episco- 
pal Bishop, in the or(|(Bring of a Priest, says, 
according to their book of Common Prayer, 
*'Eeceive the Holy Ghost for the office and 
work of a Priest in the Church of God, now 
committed unto thee by the imposition of our 
hands ; whose sins thou dost forgive, they are 
forgiven ; and whose sins thou dost retain, 
they are retained?" Where, and what, I ask, 
is the proof that the Bishop possesses such 
power? The daring arrogance of assuming 
what belongs only to God, may well make 
devils tremble. '' Receive the Holy Ghost, 
— by the imposition of our hands," withal to 
^' forgive, and retain sins!" Has it come to 
this, that when men deem themselves most 
reverend in their divinity, they are the worst 
of all triflers ? and while they affect to treat 
exposure as beneath their contempt, they in- 
wardly dread it as the exploding mine that 
blows up their little universe ; and are ive^ in 
our dignified divinity, an exception to all 
rules ? You know, I understand also in what 
light you, a D. D., justify yourself in holding 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 139 

up Arminians. Are we, as Baptists, better 
than they ? But you say, Baptism is a very 
solemn subject. I could wish it were always 
practiced as a solemn ordinance requires ; and 
have you read, and read without deeply blush- 
ing, the '' Confessions of a Converfl That 
should put us to confusion. Much, if not 
most, often depends upon circumstances. 
Now, a de facto indecent ordinance cannot be 
divine; for the immutable Jehovah perempto- 
rily demands decency, saying, "Let all things 
be done decently and in order ;'^ of tvomen^ 
(See 1 Cor. 11 : 5, and 14 : 35. 1 Tim. 2 
9-12,) He requires peculiar modesty ; to 
the priest also, a man, of course. He said, 
'' neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine 
altar that thy nakedness be discovered there- 
on." You know that Baptist decency is liable 
to what is so unbecoming, that it cannot be 
decently described ; and you have witnessed 
more than one instance of unforeseen Baptist 
indecorum; but if any venture to object to 
what is so liable to be indecorous, many of hs 
take vengeance by endeavoring to asperse 
their characters, as some of our publicatioDS 
disgracefully manifest. Elijah has changed not 
a little, if he would not, for many reasons, 
mock modern errorists as severely as he 
mocked the worshippers of Baal. We need 
a God to save us from delusion. 



140 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

You know that for baptism, some of our 
Doctors cry up, action, action ; and others, 
mode, MODE ! ! But Christ turns not off his 
friends with such trash. He presents himself 
as the sum of his ordinances, saying, '' Take, 
eat ; this is my body"; also, — '' This cup is 
the New Testament in my blood," — '' and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus," in what or- 
dinance but that of baptism ? or^ is such un- 
paralleled ^'sprinkling" to be treated as unwor- 
thy to be reckoned among his ordinances ; and 
if so, what does the '' sprinkling of the blood 
of Jesus " mean ? Should we call it spiritual 
'' sprinkling" only ; that would be as a sub- 
stance, without a shadow. In vain do we look 
for the sign of spiritual sprinkling, except to 
baptism with water that represents the blood 
of Christ. Spiritual sprinkling should not be 
treated as any airy ghost. But using the 
sign of ^^ the operation of G-od," divinely 
ranked with '^the glory of the Father," in 
raising saints, i. e., '-the body of Christ," 
from the death of sepulchral baptism ; I say, 
using this sign, is work bold enough for '' the 
man of sin," assisted by ''the god of this 
world." True, the Lord does work, in which 
men are employed; but for this we should 
have good authority ; as we have for teaching 
others divine, revealed truth ; but the|baptis- 
mal resurrection of '^ the body of Christj" is 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 141 

divinely ascribed to him alone, who saith, ^'My 
glory will I not give to another/' 

The sin of having "• Christ divided,'' has 
been of long continuance, but that he should 
be kept buried aUve^ to bury believers with 
hiui, is a comparatively modern device. Were 
all this iov purifying, still, why bury in water, 
a '' Lamb without blemish and without spot V 
and why bury alive " the body of Christ," i. 
e., believers already washed in all-cleansing 
blood ? ''He that is t^*(25A(3^ needeth not, save 
to wash lii^feet.'' Washing a Judas all over, 
would be insufficient, as he is akin to such as 
are given to '' wallowing in the mire." In a 
spiritual sense, the '^ dead to sin," once for 
all, are properly buried with Christ crucified ; 
but confounding liter q1 with spiritual, is absurd 
— are Christians literally the salt of the earth? 
and is God a Rock literally ? if so, our baptis- 
mal burial may be literal. 

You say that our baptism represents the 
death, burial and resurrection of Christ. But 
are we, in our baptism, a sort oi posterior 
type of Christ dead, buried and risen again ? 
and if so, wdiat is the rule for such typifying ? 
Certainly, you would not make Jesus a type 
of the baptized in after times. A type, or 
representation is, at most, but partly that 
which it represents. The divine rule on this 
subject is, '• When that which is perfect is 



142 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

come, then that which is in part shall be done 
away/' Christ crucified is the sum of per- 
fection : but what are we and our doings ? so 
that your representation oi Christ's baptism 
by ours^ you can never substantiate, for in 
Christ, what is forever " perfect is come.'V 

You speak of a baptism that "overwhelmed^' 
Christ. "^The sea overwhelmed their enemies,'' 
(Ps. 78 : 53,) i. e., Pharaoh and his host; but 
you will not say that those enemies received 
Scriptural baptism. God teaches no such 
thing. The two following passages, viz., '' I 
have a baptism to be baptized w^ith ; and how 
am I straitened till it be accomplished 1" and, 
^'The cup which my Father hath given me, 
shall I not drink it ? I understand to mean 
the same. Many maintain that the sense of 
baptize is to wet ; then baptize is not limited 
to the modes, dip^ pour and sprinkle. Wet- 
ting to perfection within, and without, is by 
drinking a plenty of sudorific liquid ; but 
what wettirig baptizers would commune with 
those baptized only by drinking ? The mode 
of baptism, w^e see, must be limited ; and God 
has set the right limits, in the statutes and 
udgments of Moses. 

Sir, you know that till lately, I ever proved 
myself a Baptist of the '' straitest sect," and 
so trained up my children ; but now, every 
Baptist argument appears to me to be what my 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 143 

iather, a lawyer, calls a non seqiiifiir, i. e., the 
premises not sustaining the conclusion. Taking 
yourself as authority, the writers of the New 
Testament used the Greek Septuagint as the 
Book of books ; but in what part of that Book, 
do you find a pagan baptizo^ and into, into, 
nnd G'ut^ out of baptismal water ? Of the lack in 
Baptist premises, I will give you an illustra- 
tion familiar to yourself, though it may not be 
so to some others. You know, my father was 
counsel for Mr. Poor, who was indicted for the 
murder of his wife. It was provo'l by sub- 
stantial witnesses, that Mrs. Poor said to him, 
' Husband, don't kill me !' that he soon replied, 
I will, I will; that Poor said the occasion of 
her death, was a stone thiit he admitted is the 
one that Mr. Rich, a merchant now dead, told 
him repeatedly in the hearing of three men of 
truth, was very large; that he was seen to 
throw the stone at her ; that she screamed and 
fell ; that six of the witnesses were those who 
ran to her, and found her dead at Poor's feet. 
You remember, that in that Court of great 
ability and candor, the Jury brought in the 
verdict that Poor was guilty of the murder of 
his wife : though my father had ar^^ued that 
large and small are relative terms, that the size 
of the stone was not ascertained, that the con- 
clusion that Poor murdered his wife would be 
a non sequitur; yet the Judge prepared the 



144 UNSLE NATHAN ; OR, 

sentence, and was about to pronounce it, when, 
unexpectedly was found new evidence, on 
which, in another trial, Poor was acquitted — by 
which it was made clear, that Mrs. Poor was a 
very nervous woman, that she had got a piece 
of glass into her only seeing eye : that Mr. 
Poor tried to get out the glass ; that this hurt 
her so badly as caused her to cry out. Husband, 
don t kill me ! then in a much lower tone, she 
said, Do go to father's and get our eye-stone, 
quick! He replied, I w^ill, I ivilL As last 
year he knew not the size of eye-stones, he 
thought those too small to answer any valuable 
purpose ; that Mr. Rich assured him, they were 
very large; that Poor returned sooner than his 
wife expected him ; that he suddenly reached 
out the eye-stone, it hit a bile on her face, she 
was pained and frightened, screamed and faint- 
ed, and in falling, her left temple struck on the 
corner of a stove, an abscess on her vitals broke, 
and she died instantly. 

Now, Baptist arguments, like the evidence 
on wdiich Poor was convicted, seem somewhat 
plausible ; but to me, the conclusions drawn on 
Baptist premises, are all a perfect ^o?2 sequitur. 

John also was baptizing in ^non (or, land 
of springs,) near to Salim, because there (Greek) 
were waters many." He had just before been 
baptizing " in the river of Jordan "; and did 
he leave the river and go to ^non to find 



STBICT AGREEMENT AVITH GOD. 145 

water enough to baptize ? Passing strange ! 
Doubtless, ^non had more pure spring water 
than Jordan ; and as many would ricle there, 
and stay 'and hear John preach, a plenty of 
good spring-water w^as exactly what they de- 
sired. " John was baptizing " — includes the 
whole that he was then saying and doing ; and 
all had abundance of pure water for every ob- 
ject requiring it. 

The " man of Ethiopia" didn't say, as many 
have pretended. See, here is much water ; but 
according to the Greek " See, water: what doth 
hinder me to be baptized V Sufficient to hinder 
you^ unless the loctter is deep enough to plunge you 
into it, all over, would be the ground taken by 
modern Baptists ; but with those Biblical Bap- 
tists ; ''See, water," settled the question of 
depth and quantity ; with them, ''water" was 
water enough for baptism. 

At Cesarea, Peter " found many that were 
gathered together ;— the Holy Ghost fell on all 
them which heard the word. — Then answered 
Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these 
should not be baptized ? He evidently 
speaks of appropriated water ; for who would 
forbid water not appropriated ? Can any man 
forbid enough of the water designed for his own 
use, to baptize the " many " before mentioned? 
Peteu's question implies that the quantity of 



146 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

water needed was so small, that g^tz?/ man, how- 
ever stingy, would not refuse to give it. 

At Jerusalem, in neither of the only.two rainy 
seasons during the year, but in a dry time, far 
away from any Jordan or ^non, the Apostles 
baptized three thousand in a day ; but the 
quantity of water used was a matter of so little 
consequence, that not a word is recorded on the 
subject. 

Since our Bible was translated, the meaning 
and use of words in our language, have changed 
not a little. " The way by the which the horses 
came into the king's house.'' By into, our 
translators could mean only towards, or at most, 
unto. '' Jesus went up irito a mountain." No 
doubt, our translators would now render it on to. 
'' I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.'* 
Did the translators believe that Paul had been 
in the lion's mouth ? From the mouth of the 
lion, is manifestly all that they meant. Though 
they translated into, and out of the water ; so 
often do we find baptizing ivith water, in our 
translation, as to show that the translators 
meant, by into, and out of, only what we mean 
by ^0, ^ndfrom; their frequent use of enter into, 
where we should say, go into; and their ozz^, out 
of, where we should say merely, out of, proves 
that by into and out of, they meant no more 
nor less than that Biblical Baptists went near 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 147 

enough to the water, to baptize with water. 
There yoa have it. You understand that when 
inspired writers expressed what %ve call into, 
and out of^ they used the words double wot sin- 
gle; yet^ never double on baptism ; as every 
one acquainted with the Greek alphabet may 
readily perceive. Therefore, the Scriptural 
proof is", that for baptism, John and the apos- 
tles did not enter into the water; nor come out^ 
out of it ; and whoever so much as enters into 
the water^ for baptism, goes in opposition to 
the Bible ; and you know it, for you maintain 
withal that Scripture is not two-sided nor neu- 
tral. 

Many modern baptizers ignorantly argue 
against the Baptists, that baptism depends not 
upon quantity of water. With us^ quantity is 
not the thing ; but real baptism depends wholly 
on what our profound Dr. Gar calls the mode. 
Gould the subject be conveniently and com- 
pletely submerged mio water, in a bath contain- 
ing but one drop^ it would satisfy our princi- 
ples. That a large quantity of water is usually 
required, rests upon circumstances beyond con- 
venient control. 

Again, men have no just occasion to prove 
to Baptists, that John's baptism is not Christian 
baptism, for all that we mean is, that it is Chris- 
tian baptism on the points controverted, andP^- 
dobaptists hold the same ; that is, we maintaiB 
10 



0.48 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

that in baptism, John and Paul submerged be- 
'lievers only. P<:)edobaptists also hold that John 
and Paul agreed respecting the subjects of bap- 
tism, and ^Yhat Dr. Car calls the mode. But 
the spi'inkling-pouring-pIunging-thYice craf- 
ty:, trifling baptizers, I think are quite be- 
-^ide themselves. Thej will have it that bap- 
(ism is. what they call a ceremony; said a cour- 
tier, "• The king is a ceremony.'' What but 
the monster of a cerem^ony^ are such baptizers ! 
They treat the unchangeable God, who slew 
ijzzah for error in externals^ as on this subject 
liaving fallen into perfect quietism ! Should 
he deal Avith some of them as he dealt with 
Uzzali, the rest might leave their ark, for an 
age or more, in the house of some Obededom; 
but as dt is, they infer, that since the fathers 
fell asleep, Quieters reign over the mode of 
baptism. Whether ^' they willingly are igno- 
rant," is known to the Searcher of hearts. Not 
very efficient are these w^ould-be reformers of 
their erring brethren, as they regard the Bap- 
. lists. 

Most Pmdobapiists seem blind to our scruples. 
They admit that immersion is baptism, and 
they, as we, hold that baptism is prerequisite 
to communion. If they believe us honest in 
rejecting sprinkling baptism, why they main- 
tain that they are free^ and that we are close^ 
In communion, I know^ not. The other day, I 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 149 

inquired of Dr. Wiseman, a Psedobaptist, if he 
would commune with any, that, in his opinion, 
are not baptized ; or baptized, say, with blood 
alone, calling it "•' the blood of sprinkling." He 
replid, NO ! ! ! I said, Then the error between 
lis, relates to baptism. He answered faintly^ 
Yes, supposing me to be a Baptist. If Dr. 
Wiseman has errors on baptism, still, close 
communion among mutu^-lly acknowledged 
Christians, all believing themselves properly 
baptized, is of commonly bad report, and re- 
quires very special attention, for the Lord 
writes open communion in the heart, and in 
Scripture ; the God of Hezekiah lives and 
reigns now^ as of old; and how 7 '" Hezekiah 
prayed, saying. The good Loed pardon every 
one that prepareth his heart to seek God, 
though he be not cleansed according to the pu- 
rification of the sanctuary. And the Lord 
hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people;'' 
^ndilox luhat ? ''A multitude of the people 
had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat 
the passover (typical of Christ our Sacramental 
Passover,) otherwise than it was written.'' 
Before God and men, every Christian desires to 
be upright ; then why not cordially allow him 
as much freedom as you could reasonably claim? 
and beware of taking him by the throat, with 
the gripe of close communion. The penalty of 
the Mosaic^ purifying^ i. e., emphatically 



150 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

BAPTISMAL LAW, including (Greek) ^'DI- 
VERS BAPTISMS/' I say, the penally for 
the violation oithat law was death; (Num. 19: 
20,) yet the Lord pardoned those really open 
communicants partaking of the Paschal sacra- 
ment, thus giving us a blessed precedent, 
through Hezekiah, for open communion ; but 
will the Lord as readily pardon communicants 
that are blindly anti-scriptural, close and intol- 
erably arrogant ? '^ For he shall have judg- 
ment without mercy, that hath showed no 
mercy/' Hezekiah knew that those open 
communicants were not baptized as God re- 
quired ; but we not knoioing whereof we affirm, 
of course, beg the question. 

Christ '' beginning at Moses,- — expounded 
in all the Scriptures the things concerning him- 
self (Lu. 24 : 27.) Let us reform ourselves, 
beginning where Christ begins, at what Scrip- 
ture calls the law of Moses. Isaiah, Ezekiel, 
Christ, Stephen, Paul, ('' saying none other 
things than those which the prophets and Mo- 
ses did say should come," Acts 26 : 22.) Peter 
and others inspired, make Mosaic baptism 
stand out in bold relief beyond all other Mosaic 
rites^ as a well established law^ and being thus 
^^ confirmed/' no man disannulleth^ or addeth 
thereto." Nor, is this strange ; for GOD IS 
WONT TO GATHER CHOICE MEMORIALS 
FOR HIMSELF, FROM HIS OWN DIS- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 151 

PENSATIONS, whether of WRATH, or of 
MERCY. He had the hallowed censers of 
Korah, Dathan and Abiram, made into broad 
plates for a covering of the altar. The taber- 
nacle, called the holiest of all, had the s:oldeii 
censer and the ark of the covenant, wherein was 
the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron s rod 
that budded, and the tables of the covenant con- 
taining the ten commandrdents of perpetual ohli- 
gation, BAPTISM IS A CHOICE MEMO- 
RIAL, WE, BAPTISTS, BEING JUDGES. 
You object that burial by sprinkling, is 5?^- 
perJiciaL Well, Dea. Broadhead's remedy is, 
Immersion into the blood of Christ ; but God's 
burial by sprinkling, is sufficiently thorough. 
He saith, ^' Then will I sprinkle clean water 
upon you, and ye shall be clean ; from all your 
filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse 
you." Is this enough ? "He will subdue our 
iniquities ; and thou wilt cast all their sins into 
the depths of the sea." Pray, what would you 
have 7nore ? Man's baptismal burial, though 
including the emphatically Arminian triad of 
modes in one ordinance, is superficial ; but I 
desire to be so buried with Christ by baptism, 
that I can safely stay buried him ; and be risen 
with him, at the same time. Was not Moses 
risen v/ith Christ, according to the spirit of the 
law^ when (Ex. 33 : 22,) he was buried in the 
rock ? Jesus understood well that the Pharisees 



152 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

knew the letter of that law. When they asked 
him, ^' Is it lawful for a man to put away his 
wife? tempting him/' He said, '^ What did 
Moses command you V When a laivyer tempt- 
ed him. He inquired, '' What is written in the 
law 7 how readest thou ?" He answered ; and 
Jesus replied, '^ Thou hast answered right.'' 
What was ever more deeply riveted in the mind 
of a Jew than this ? ^'We know that God spake 
nnto Moses:' (John 9 : 29.) The mock trial 
of the martyr Stephen, requires very special 
attention ; also, what was the occasion of 
sending Paul off a prisoner to Rome. In the 
days of the Apostles, God's water-baptism was 
guarded with hot jealousy, by his enemies, the 
Jews ; yet the baptismal spectacles have been 
lost on the nose of the Church between one and 
two thousand years ; and the loss has driven 
her to distraction. The enemies of Stephen 
'^suborned men, which said, We have heard 
him speak blasphemous words against Moses." 
— For Moses J Yio^^ jealous ! His name stands 
first; — ''against Moses ^ and against God." 
They '' set up false witnesses ;" and what did 
these false witnesses testify ? It was, that this 
follower of the Nazarene was endeavoring to 
''change the customs (Greek, rites) which Moses 
delivered us.'' Mark, they were '\false wit- 
nesses." Again, the disciples at Jerusalem 
said to Paul respecting certain Jews, "They 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 153 

are informed of thee, that tliou teachest ail 
the Jews which are among the Gentiles/' — - 
not, JewvS solely^ but '' the Jews which are 
among the Gentiles ^ to forsake Moses ;'' but it 
was a false report ; for, with the advice of 
those disciples, Paul took measures, that, as 
the disciples said, '^ ail may know that those 
things whereof they are informed concerning 
thee are nothing,'' ?iot triie^ "but that thou 
thyself also walkest orderly and keepest the 
law," i. e., of Moses, Need I prove to Baptists, 
that the disciples were not practicing imposi- 
tion ! were not publishing U^s ^ in concert 
with the apostle Paul I 

Jesus said to Jews, " Do not think that I 
will accuse you to the Father ; there is one* 
that accuseth you, even Moses in whom ye 
trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would 
have believed me." — Christ and Moses were 
perfectly agreed, so that trusters in Moses 
could get no real advantage against Jesus. 
Again, Christ said to followers of Moses, " I 
also will ask you one thing, which if ye tell 
me, I in likewise will tell you by what author- 
ity I do these things. The baptism of John, 
wdience was it? from heaven, or of men?" 
John had said to the Jews, ''Ye yourselves 
bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, 
but that I am sent before him." And they 
had learned from Malachi, the last of the old 



154 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Testament prophets, that they, as well as the 
harbinger of Christ, the Lord, were required 
to ''remember the law of Moses commanded 
unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the 
statutes and judgments/' So, they could not 
but know that John's Mosaic baptism w'as 
from heaven, and that John's baptism of Christ 
was public ; their regard for Moses, required 
that they should acknoiiiedge John's baptism 
as being from heaven ; but as they knew Je- 
sus had received that baptism, if they ac- 
knowledged the truth, in so doing, they must 
necessarily own that Christ acted on divine au- 
thority, and his claims must all be admitted ; 
but in rejecting John's baptism as a human 
'device, they would reject Moses ; thus Jesus 
put them into a most awful dilemma, from 
which they attempted to escape by lyi?2g ; for 
they said of John's Mosaic baptism received 
by the Savior, ''That they could not tell 
whence it v;as." The Mosaic John evidently 
baptized Christ "like unto Moses," (See Deut. 
18 : 15. Acts 3 : 22, and 7 : 37, the Fath- 
er bearing witness by his voice and Spirit from 
heaven,) precisely as Moses would baptize the 
Savior ; hence the vanquishing argument why 
the Jews, why any should not reject John's 
Mosaic baptism of the Son of God. If this 
is not demonstration, will you point out the de- 
fect ? Did -Moses dip men and women ? Nay, 



STBICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 155 

lie sprinkled all the people, (TIeb, 9 : 19,) in- 
fants not excepted. 

Christ, after his resurrection, changed John's 
Mosaic baptism into Gospel baptism, by re- 
quiring it to be administered in the name of 
the Trinity ; for about twelve of John's bap- 
tized converts testified, '' We have not so 
much as heard whether there be any Holy 
Ghost ; thus evincing that they had not been 
baptized in his name. So, Jesus changed the 
Passover into what is called ''The Lord's Sup- 
per ;" and through the Apostles, he changed 
the old Sabbath into a new one, termed ''The 
Lord's day ;" as he acted on the principle of 
changing water into wine, instead of newly 
creating it out of nothing ; and the rule is of 
long standing : for " God formed man of 
the dust of the ground." Had Jehovah insti- 
tuted an entirely new baptism, the record 
would doubtless show it as explicitly as it 
shows the administration to be " in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost." The subjects and mode of baptism 
were well known from the daj^s of Moses. 
God's ways toward man have ever been grad- 
ual — not all at one step. 

Sir, as a Baptist, you will not venture to 
publish baptizo translated in Scripture as we 
hold to be divine truth, that is, baptizo^ sub- 
dip; for nothing short of this expresses our 



156 UNCLE KATKAN ; OR, 

meaning ; dip does not pro\^e dipping under; 
suhdip means putting under ^ and taking the 
subject /r6)7?^ under ^ say, ivater; but you are 
aware that translating baptizo^ subdip, in our 
Bible, would ruin our cause at once. Immer- 
sion leaves the subject to some extent, it may 
be, in ivater ; submersion leaves the subject 
under^ perhaps, loater^ to take care of himself, 
if he can ; so that as Baptists, we fear to be 
honest ; to us, honesty would be ruinous poli- 
cy. Yet, much are Baptists wont to glory in 
what amounts to subdipping ;. and enough have 
I seen to convince me that numbers of us are 
proud of rejecting our infant baptism ; but I 
apprehend that Elijah the second might not 
recognize his official title ; were it that of 
John the Subdipper, or Antipcedobaptizer ; yet 
in the plenitude of our subdipping power, we 
open and shut the Lord's door to his table, as 
being his divinely-appointed close door-keep- 
ers, commending ourselves to a few subdipping 
consciences, in the sight of a God unknown to 
all but subdippers; as you know well. 

But you ask, Why talk of John s baptism 
from heaven, unless wath John it originated ? 

In reply, I ask. Do Calvinists receive Cal- 
vinism, or Armini,ans receive its antagonist. 
viz., Arminianism, as coming from heaven, 
only as bjfch Calvinists and Armiaians believe 
that their systems are derived from our heaven- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 157 

descended Eevelation ? — not like our baptizo^ 
from a heaven too low for the heathen. But 
father Abraham says of his erring children, 
''They have Moses and the prophets; let 
them hear them." While these naughty chil- 
dren are calling for one from the dead, to in- 
duce them to yield, father Abraham concludes 
thus, '^ If they hear not Moses and the proph- 
ets, neither will they be persuaded though one 
rose from the dead." But multitudes profes- 
sing to have '^ a good conscience," connive as 
much at ignorance, as though the doctrine of 
baptismal repentance Avere out of the ques- 
tion. For all sorts of water-baptism, they 
cry, each for himself, that it is "the answer of a 
good conscience towards God." What saith 
Scripture? ''Baptism doth also now save 
us." Is this true of t^'fi^/^r-baptism ? Nay ; 
but " baptism doth also now save us, not the 
putting away of the filth of the flesh,'' — not 
external baptism, — " the ashes of an heifer — 
running water (being) put thereto, — (Num. 
19 : 17,) sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth 
to the purifying of ih^ flesh "; but the Holy 
Spirit's " baptism doth also now save us, (be- 
ing) the answer of a good conscience towards 
God — by the resurrection of Jesus" received? 
by faith. Is each one that boasts a "good 
conscience,'' sufficiently holy, (See Matt. 23 : 
19,) to sanctify some favorite sort of water- 



158 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 



baptism? and is the human body an altar that 
sanctifies 7 The command is, " Present your 
bodies a living sacrifice^'"— on what but God's 
altar ? and you, as a Baptist, maintain, that 
an altar, (Ex. 20 ; 25,) to please God, 
must be built as he directs, and as we Have 
seen, for Scriptural baptism, he points us to 
'' the statutes and judgments of Moses," and 
implicitly requires us so to act as to prove that 
all are " filse witnesses," w^ho testify that we 
^' change" the baptismal custom '' which Mo- 
ses delivered us"; and Moses in his practice 
of ' divers baptisms,' ^^ sprinkled all the peo- 
ple"; and the waters of the Red Sea fled; 
(Ps. 114 : 5,) so that^all Israel, great and 
small, w'cre *' baptized unto Moses — on dry 
land." Now, the disguised cross of subdip- 
ping, that we cloak with immersion, in bear- 
ing which, we have exercised unbounded 
^'voluntary humility," and gloried in it be- 
yond measure, is a cross unknown to Moses, 
to prophets, or apostles. Yet Dr. Knowall, 
who is passing through the land, to set every 
body right on baptism, dined here yesterday, 
and he says he knows baby sprinkling cannot 
be found in the Bible. You have read his 
work on what he calls the multiplied and enor- 
mous evils of infant baptism, a phrase that he 
seldom uses in conversation — claiming that his 
duty is to be ' plairi-hearted,'' and call things 



STRICT AdKEEMENT WITH GOD. 169 

by their right names, and he says he finds not 
in earth or in heaven, any thing rightly named 
infant baptism. Bat Judge London called here 
to-day, and left us a few minutes since, I 
inquired of him what could induce ypu to 
preach your Thcoric sermon. He replied, 'The 
Doctor is a profound mathematician, abounding 
in demonstration ; yet in attempting to show 
the reasonableness of our Baptist system, he has 
eiFected a complete reduciio ad absurdum— 
— downright absurdity is the result of his 
mighty effort ; but judging by the eifect on 
most of the congregation, the sermon v/ili wake 
people up to thorough investigation/ 

You know, the Judge was a good Baptist^ 
till he saw that demonstration is the ruin of 
our scheme. He says the way to confute the 
Baptists, is to have them fairly demonstrate 
their Theory, 

That Psedobaptists, learned or unlearned^ 
have made improper admissions, is no good 
excuse why we should fail to understand and 
acknowledge what Jehovah has revealed. 

I had forgotten that I am a woman, and 
would ask you to excuse my boldness, were it 
not that in Christ Jesus, sex has no pre-emi- 
nence one above another. 

Most -respectfully yours, 

Mary Canfield.. 

Dt. Deepwater. 



160 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 



CHAPTER XY. 



SIMON DESCRIBED; AND ARMINIANLSM RECOM- 
MENDED. 



Bishop Gooderiougli, hearing what Uncle Na- 
than siiiFered at the Hospital, wrote him as 
folloAvs : 

Rev, and Dear Sir^ — You, as well as myself, 
learn by experience, that " we must through 
much tribulation enter into the kingdom of 
God." Often have I requested you to pray for 
my son Simon ; but you have made me little 
reply. Perhaps you would feel more interest, 
should I give you some account of him. I have 
warned him, from infancy, of the mischief done 
by Calvinism ; and to prove to him his gracious 
ability, I have reasoned with him, and carried 
him to scores of meetings, where multitudes 
have put forth that ability, and been converted 
to God. But his ingenuity in perverting 
Scripture, exceeds all that can be imagined. 
One of the most lawless of creatures conceiva- 
ble, he tears Arminianism in pieces, faster than 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 161 

I can put it together. He is all but a Chris- 
tian, yet not quite ; and I am sure he has a 
gracious ability, but he would never own it. 
l^hough he has never seen you, so much is he 
like yourself, that many vv^ould say, you mack 
him. I am almost constrained to believe 
that he was formed a Calvinist ; and I find it 
impossible to change him into an Arminian» 
Some of my brethren have said to me, If he 
will side with dragons, you may as w^ ell let him 
go to perdition ; but he is my- child, and by all 
means, I wish to meet him in heaven. 

You have been, on the whole, more friendly 
to Methodists than is usual for Calvinists. 
Frequently have you attended our meetings, 
and we have cordially invited you to participate. 
Should you know the worth of our principles 
and pra,ctices, you would adopt them at once, 
as the best upon earth. We hold that God 
elects men as fast as they believe ; and in these 
days of so much backsliding, we think that 
quite fast enough. It gives the independent 
power of the will an opportunity to act for it- 
self. We believe in the perseverance of saints; 
only they can all backslide, if they will, and 
be lost forever. You know, we hold to shoutinii: 
— long, loud and often, when backsliders, in 
multitudes, are reclaimed. If you would read 
the Bible through, and mark all that you meet 
with on shouting, and the like, you would find 



162 l]NCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

yourself mistaken for a Methodist, by all who 
should read your Bible afterward. 

You don't begin to know the advantage we 
have in being itinerants; but you understand 
how a change of pastures makes fat calves. 
Were you a Methodist minister, we would tell 
you much that is not now expedient to divulge. 

Hoping to hear from you soon, I subscribe 
myself Yours, in christian love. 

James Goodenough. 

Uncle Nathan. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

ARMINiANISM NOT THE THING NEEDED, 

To the preceding, Uncle Nathan replied : 

P\.ev, and dear Sir^ — '^ Our light affliction 
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far 
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.'' 
Though I find communion with God the source 
of unspeakable delight, it often seems as if my 
prayers could rise no higher than my head ; 
yet how iueffiible the condescension of the great 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 163 

Mediator, to stoop so low to hear my unwor- 
thy supplications 

From a child I have ardently desired com- 
promise among religious denominations ; but 
to effect it and make it permanent, appears to 
me an utterly hopeless task. Where truth is, 
there is my home, is my motto. 

Should you, and your son Simon, think prop- 
er, I would like to converse with him on the 
state of his mind, and the way to be saved. 

On the supposition that Arminianism is true, 
the Bible would be to me a strange thing, and 
I should think that ray reason had turned trai- 
tor. Would you take the bridle from your 
horse, and trust to the self- determining power 
of his will? '^ I hearkened and heard, but 
they spake not aright ; no man repented him 
of his wickedness, saying, What have I done ? 
Every one turned to his course, as the horse 
rusheth into the battle." In your senses, would 
you commit yourself to the keeping of the free 
will of a hungry lion ? or would you cry to your 
Maker, *' Hide me under the shadow of thy 

wings- -from the wicked that have set 

their eyes bowing down to the earth, like as a 
lion that is greedy of his prey "? Would you 
set the best of all pilots aside, and trust to the 
self-determining power of a treacherous helm, 
in doubling Cape Horn, in a tempest ? The 
reason why these illustrations avail in argu- 
11 



164 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 



ment is because explicitly, or in essence, they 
are so constituted in Scripture. In your free 
will, I understand you as avowing your de- 
pendence on God, yet numbers of the wise af- 
firm that you depend mainly on yourselves ; 
but your supposed divine aid, at best, makes 
your religion none the less perishable. Many 
attempt to refine your free will, yet this by no 
means changes your dross into gold. What one 
redeeming quality does your system possess ? 
According to your scheme, the abominably 
wicked have your self-determining free will, 
your gracious ability ; and they are about as 
trusty as the one that Christ (John 8 : 44,) 
calls their father. Your freedom is like that of 
a kite independent of a cord, and its ultimate 
fall is inevitable. Calvinism mixed with Ar- 
minianism, gives no strength of iron to your 
clayey image. Then, would you trust your 
own salvation to self- de tormina tors ' filled with 
all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, 
covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, mur- 
der, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, 
backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, 
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient 
to parents, without understanding, covenant- 
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, 
unmerciful, who knowing the judgment of God, 
(that they which commit such things are worthy 
of death,) not only do the same, but have 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 165 

pleasure in them that do them ' ? If they can- 
not be trusted with your salvation, who would 
trust them with their oion ? Your free will is 
* like the baseless fabric of a vision ;' for God 
has so constituted moral agents, that they can- 
not but act according to choice^ and in this, 
there is ever, for some reason, a prevailing 
preference for what is chosen ; and more, we 
can breathe without azr, when the Will can act 
without what is, to itself^ an external ?notive. 
For one, I find it impossible for me to act vol- 
yntarily, without a real or imaginary reason. 
The Will is persuaded only by some extraneous 
inducement. King Saul said, " I forced my- 
self ;'' not that he had, or could have a self- 
forcing will. What then ? One of the reasons 
given is, " The Philistines will come down now 
upon me,~= — —and I have not made supplica- 
tion unto the Lord ; I forced myself therefore, 
and offered a burnt-offering." The motive is 
necessarily extraneous to the will itself. That 
Will must be lordly which looks to itself as so 
acting as needing nothing external to move it 
to good, or evil. Is the will a ghostly autom- 
aton ? Innate motives would make cause and 
effect identical ; and for what use ? Precisely 
this, that a rational being, as such, would, or 
could act, without reason, which would be 
downright absurdity, and of which a beast 
might well be ashamed. Had free toill been 



166 UNCLE NATHAN ; OK, 

more than a shadoio^ Uncle Jonathan would 
have killed it long ago, as, with a sort of quill, 
he shot 3000 miles athwart the water, and slew 
an English D.D.^ 

The trouble with the Arminian, as such, is, 
that he will not resign to Jehovah absolutely 
^<ivery thing, but what is most important must 
be entrusted to a satanic Free Will. If God 
has put sinners into their present bad condition, 
it w^ill take Hivi to extricate them ; if they 
have destroyed themselves^ their condition is, if 
possible, still more hopeless, only as the Lord 
has the all-controlling power in His hamis, and 
uses it accordingly. An Arminian can do 
nothing effectual, only as a moth, he destroys 
his cocoon, by eating out. You can save the 
silk only by destroying the worm. Not that 
Arminianism is a cocoon worth saving; yet. the 
Arminian might be safely let alone, were he 
not ever, in some w^ay, preying upon Calvinism, 
and self-defence is a law of natures God. Many 
would confine us to general remedies; but the 
Lord has provided, and requires us to use what 

* To an article of President Edwards. Dr. Tajlor, of Eng- 
land, published a Reply much extolled, founded on his knovi^l" 
edga Oi" Hebrew, which the Presidervtdid not then understand ; 
but a year afterward, he wrote Dr. Taylor a Rejoiner, thatl 
was acknowledged by the physicians there as causing hi§ 
deaths by inducing quick eonsurDption. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 167 

are specific, as ''Mark, (Yea,) Mark them 

which cause divisions and offences, contrary 

to the doctrine which ye have learned ; and 

jivoid them;'' and loving our neighbor as 

ourselves, to warn as effectually as possible all 

that are exposed to delusion. 

Shouting, of course, is right on all proper 

occasions ; but at linies when Calvinism came 

not into the account, I heard you shout " so 

that the earth rano' a^ain ": and while I look- 
er o ' 

ed for astounding victory, I beheld the ark of 
God taken. At other times, I hea.rd you blowing 
your trumpets around the walls of Jericho, 
till your lungs were ready to burst, and ye 
*' shouted with a great shout ;" but the walls 
remained as firm as Lot's wife turned into a 
piHar of salt. 

As to your peculiar advantage of having 
'Mat calves," if so, it is something too deep 
for me to comprehend,— to make calves fat by 
changing the locations themselves of very lean 
pastures, yearly ; of lean pastures, once in two 
years ; and not very fat ones, every tlurd or 
fourth year ; but for lean pastures, like Pha- 
raoh's lean kine, to devour all before them, and 
remain as lean as ever, is a sure sign of famine. 
If we ''use great plainness of speech," may 
we ever do so in " hope " of better times. 
In the Lord, your servant, ^y 

J^ishop lioodenough. 



168 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 



CHAPTER XVII. 



ANTINOMIANISM WITHOUT A CLOAK ; AND KIN-^ 
DKED SPIRITS. 



Three weeks afterward, Simon Goodenoiigh 
went and heard a sermon from Uncle Nathan 
who said, The text, (James 2 : 20 ; " But 
wilt thou know, vain man, that faith with-- 
out w^orks is dead?') and context, are pointed 
directly ngainst Antinomians ; these believe, 
and tremble not, and thus prove themselves 
averse than devils, that also believe and trem- 
ble. Antinomians think themselves nearly or 
quite in grace, mainly on account of their 
speculative orthodoxy, and at times, are filled 
with ecstasy respecting their own supposed 
good estate. Full of their own glory, — -when 
they hear the little ones of the kingdom cry- 
ing, Ilosanna to the Holy One ; their actions 
prove them so malignant, that the senseless 
stones of Arminianism cry out against them ; 
of these stones, God shows himself able to 
raise up children unto Abraham ; I say, sense- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 169 

less, for sense is inherent in truth, not in er- 
ror, '' They read in the book of the law of 
God distinctly, and gave the sense/' (Neho 
8 : 8.) Antinomians hold, Once in a gracious 
state, always so, however ungodly they now 
are ; or, they would be better, if they could^ 
and say to their souls, '' To-morrow shall be 
as this day, and much more abundant." Their 
morning witliout clouds is, in a moment, over- 
cast; the Lord causes their sun to go down at 
noon. While they are saying, ' Peace and 
safety, sudden destruction comes upon them^ 
and they cannot escape.' 

For years, Antinomianism had been the re- 
fuge of Simon. In the evening, he came to 
Uncle Nathan, and said, Sir, I am convinced 
that God would be holy, just and good, in 
condemning me to eternal burnings. I fear to 
utter the horrid blasphemy that rises up in my 
heart against him. 

Uncle Nathan made little reply, but spent 
the night in wrestling with the Angel of the 
covenant, on Simon s behalf. When the Lord 
seeme 1 to say, ' Let me alone that my wrath 
may wax hot against him, that I may consume 
him in a moment.' Nathan took fresh cour- 
age, and pleaded the more earnestly, *I be- 
seech thee, let not the wrath of the Lord wax 
hot against his servant;' when the Angel saidj 
* Let me go, for the day breaketh ;' Nathan 



170 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

made Simon's case his oivn, and wept, and 
groaned in the ear of the Hearer of prayer, 
and said. With thy help, ' I will not let thee 
go, except thou bless me,' The angel smiled, 
saying. Thou hast prevailed. 

In the night, whenever Simon shut his eyes 
to sleep, a holy God wrs before him, the fire 
of the violated law burnt to the ' lowest hell,' 
and immeasurably high did it blaze ; his sins 
rose to heaven, and uttered piercing cries for 
vengeance, upon his guilty, undying soul; he 
had been a neglecter of the '*great salvation," 
and how could he escape the wrath to come up- 
on the wicked forever ? He dreamed of a 
morning without clouds ; but that at noon his 
sun went down in an instant, never again to 
rise. He attempted to pray, but the petition, 
** Thy will be done," he hated from his inmost 
soul. At dawn, he said, " Let me fall now 
into the hand of the Lord, for very great are 
his mercies." How easy to fall into his hands. 
how blessed ! His mercy is infinite, or he 
could not save me. Now, I see my own evil 
ways, and my doings that were not good. 
Were I doomed to endless burnings, what 
could I do, but love Jehovah and his law ? So 
holy, just, and good and spiritual. that I 
could get back my burden, and have thorough 
conviction of sin. Where is my burden ? I 
see it rolled upon my Savior, and Jie rejoices 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 171 

to bear it. Why is it that all within mo is 
like the peace of heaven ? Am I a Christian? 
or, is satan tempting me to believe that I am 
something, when I nm nothing? *' Search 
me, God,— See if there be any wicked 
way in me, and lead me in the w^ay everlast- 
ing." the love of Emmanuel ! An ocean 
unbounded ! What sacrifice would I not make 
to have souls saved from sin ! ! Am I for 
Christ ? Yes^ and all within me is like the 
peace of heaven. Why is it? For I am un- 
worthy to breathe. He rose and went to his 
closet, a place new to him. Faith looked up, 
and lo, Jesus was there. He soon met Uncle 
Nathan, and his first thought was, that an an- 
gel having in him Christ's image, had come 
from above. They wept, but not for grief; 
they said little; yet roail, in each other's coun- 
tenance, divine workings within. Uncle Na- 
than had no occasion to say to Simon, If you 
have not a striking conversion; still, don't give 
up your hope. When effectual prayer abounds, 
young converts then, and then only, are 
strong. Simon went abroad, and lo ! all cre- 
ation w^as praising God and the Lamb. He 
returned to Uncle Nathan's, and took from the 
shelf a well-worn Bible that he found much 
wrinkled with unconscious tears that had been 
shed on it here and there. That good old 



172 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Book, to him, was as new as though it were 
the song of the redeemed. 

For some days, Simon remained with Uncle 
Nathan, who said to him. As far as I have been 
able to learn, the wisest and best men have 
taught that young converts should know well 
the difference between truth and error, though 
the errorist that taught error for truth, were an 
angel from heaven ; for young converts, like 
young birds, will usually open their mouths 
for whatever is presented ; and what they 
then receive, is apt to incorporate with their 
nature. I sometimes fear that I overrate the 
real difference between Arminians and Calvin- 
ists. 

Simon. — I think not. A stranger called on 
us just before I left home, and in familiar con- 
versation, he said to my fether. Sir, what is 
your opinion of Calvinism ? He replied, It 
would require the pen of the wisest, guided by 
inspiration, to set forth half its deformity ; we 
have demonstrated in our '' Doctrinal Tracts," 
and we still hold, that the Calvinistic God, 
who, " for his own glory, hath foreordained 
whatsoever comes to pass," is '' worse than 
the devil "; and our works of faith prove that 
we mean to labor day and night, till by our 
heavenly method, we put this worse than infer- 
nal doctrine where it belongs. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 173 

Uncle N. — If you are willing, I should like 
to know how you regard what we, Calvinists, 
call the ''doctrines of grace/' 

Simon, — Provided it would not be tedious, 
I desire to relate to you a little of my history, 
that I have not told any human being, that 
you may better understand what instruction I 
most need. 

Uncle N. — Your father has excited my cu- 
riosity not a little ; and I should be pleased to 
hear your narration. 

Simon,— My first recollection is respecting 
Calvinism, as represented by my father. I 
thought it to be some terrible monster, and 
wondered why he did not borrow Jim Dickey's 
double-barrel gun, and shoot it. I was afraid 
to be out in the dark, lest it should seize me^ 
and swallow me alive, as the whale swallowed 
Jonah. Should it catch me, I knew not where 
to find God, to speak to it, and make it let me 
go, that I might, like Jonah, get away aliveo 

My father carried me to many meetings^ 
where the people thanked God so much for 
Methodism,, that I supposed He had given it to 
them to keep as a treasure ; and if they should 
lose it, that the consequence to them would be, 
endless ruin. 

Vfi) have a little farm. ; and my father usu- 
ally left me at home, Avhen he went any con- 
siderable distance out of town, to attend meet- 



174 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

ings ; every year, we have had a small field of 
corn, and he used to tell me to hoe it, while he 
was gone ; but I didn't like to work alone. My 
father came home one day, and the next morn- 
ing, he went to the cornfield, and found the 
weerls a foot high, and told me to take my hoe 
and cut up the weeds thoroughly in six rows, 
in the forenoon, and in the atternoon, take up 
my Latin Grammar, and learn to decline Musa, 
a lesson that he had required me, a week before, 
to be ready to recite when he returned ; that 
as I had not obeyed him about work and study, 
if I then disobeyed, he should chastise me with 
a rod stripped of leaves, and added, Simon, you 
know what to expect? I looked up into his 
more than speaking eyes, and said. Yes, Sir. I 
suppose I do. To be sure, I had, more than 
once, sufTioient reason to know. At family- 
worship, the Bible was read in coursr^ «^nd 
when my father read, "In the sweat of thy face 
shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the 
ground;" he would stop, and sometimes r.-ail it 
over again, and say, ' Children, remember this;' 
and, '' Withhold not correction from the child; 
for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall 
•not die. Thou shalt beat him with the ro{l, and 
shalt deliver bis soul from hell.'* 'Childrenj 
remember this.' But he read as though he 
didn t mean to have us, children, hear such 
passages as, ''Therefore hath he mercy on 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 175 

whom he will have mercy, and whom he will 
he hardeneth.— — The election hath obtained 
it, and th^ rest were blinded. — — that he 
should give eternal life to as many ns thou hast 
given him." Often did I see the sweat drop 
off from him, in the pulpit, while he was labor- 
ing to explain such odious texts away, ' In the 
sweat of his foce,' thought I since, does he eat 
his Arminian bread. 

To my task I must go. In two hours, I 
could have hoed up the weeds as required. My 
hoe, I had hid where it w^ould not rust, and my 
father was a long time in finding it, and sup- 
posed that himself must have put it there, and 
forgotten it, as he knew that I was not ^ ery 
careful in such matters. Then to my task I 
went, but not in a hurry. It w-as dry, warm 
weather— though the heat was not oppressive. 
When I worked, it was as if obeying the com- 
mand, ** Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, 
do it with thy might," and I soon found my- 
self sweating as profusely as my father sweats 
in preaching down Calvinism. All at once, the 
thought occurred, God has decreed that 'in the 
sweat of my face, I shall eat bread'; v^^eeds 
are spontaneous^ but to have breads the corn 
must be raised^ and that, in warm weather. 
My father had trained me to hate divine de- 
crees securing the certainty of particular hu- 
man actionSj and to have him unite witii Uod 



176 UNCLE NATHAN : OR. 



iu executing the decree that I, a Bishop's son, 
should eat bread in the sweat of my face, was 
what I felt as though I could not endure. So, 
to defeat the decree, I w-ent and sat, a long 
time, under a large apple-tree. There I had 
no rest. These texts crowded into my mind, 

^' The Lord hardened Pharaoh\s heart, 

Whom he will he hardeneth. It was of the 

Lord to harden their hearts, that they should 
come against Israel in battle, that he might de- 
stroy them utterly, and that they might have 

no favor, but that he might destroy them. 

He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their 
heart ; that they should not see with their 
eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be 

converted, and I should heal them, who w^ere 

before of old ordained to this condemnation." 
To raise bread-corn, I had just been sweating, 
thus fulfilling God's decree ; and here I metr^ 
still greater difficulty. I said to myself. The 
Lord, and I, are not on the best terms ; and 
he is determined to harden my heart, so that 
my father will give me a flogging ; if so, it will 
be a hard one. With all my might, I sprung 
to my work, determined to finish it in a hurry, 
and thus defeat this worst of decrees. Leaving 
my hoe, I pulled up weeds with a vengeance ; 
but I soon got fast hold of a dead thistle. This 
vexed me exceedingly. I we at back to the 
apple-tree, and in the shade I did my best in 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 177 

picking the thistles out of my soiled fingers, 
with a pin that I took from my collar ; my pin 
1 lost, and to work again I went ; but my neck 
was soon so burnt by the sun, that my vexa- 
tion was intolerable. Back to the. tree I has- 
tened, determined to espy some way to. defeat 
the Almighty. I could remember nothing in 
my father s instructions calculated to help me 
out of my perplexities, that were all the while 
multiplying. I was conscious that in whatever 
I did, I was voluntary^ had my choice, without 
constraint ; and at the same time, do what I 
would, for aught I have as yet been able to 
discover, I was fulfilling some divine decree. 
Something seemed to say, God means to shut 
you up to believe Calvinism. I spoke right 
out, saying, I will sooner die^ than believe that 
damnable doctrine ; so my father calls it, and 
he is a Bishop. Calvinism was then to me a 
monster indeed ; but it would stand right out 
before me, ever staring me full in the face, as 
the sternest of all realities. The doctrine, or 
its Author, I cannot find out to perfection, but 
both are to me noi^ the furthest possible from 
being monsters; as are the triune God, and 
personal predestination, to a sect calling them- 
selves Christians. But in that corn-field, 
Calvinism appeared to me bad enough to 
frighten devils to death ; if I may speak out 
my sentiments as they were at that time. Night 



178 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

came on, and most of what I was required to 
do, during the day, was left undone. That 
was to me a sleepless, dreadful night. In spite 
of me, the monster, Calvinism, swayed the 
sceptre of the universe, and I felt sure he 
would see that I be well flogged in the morn- 
ing ; and so I was. I durst not give my fa- 
ther the least explanation, lest he should serve 
ine as he wished to serve Calvinism. To this 
day, I am to him a Samson's riddle that no 
heifer has been found able to reveal. My fa- 
ther has long manifested great anxiety that 1 
should become a Christian, for this reason espe- 
cially, that he knows, as he says, he has train- 
ed me up in the way I should go, — -he knovjs; 
for he abhors the idea, that like a Calvinist, he 
should be a * Don t know-so ;' and he claims 
the promise, that when I am old, 1 shall not 
depart from Arminianism. So many had I 
seen, as I supposed, shouted into the kingdom 
so easily, that God should take that old scor- 
pion, Calvinism, my own Arminian father com- 
bining, and at best, flog me into grace, to save 
my soul from hell, I judged as being too much 
for a son of Bishop Goodenough to bear. He 
trusts, if I become a Christian, that being 
imbued, as I have been, with Calvinism, will 
have a powerful tendency to keep me from 
backsliding ; and though I should not be a 
good revival-exciter, yet he would expect me 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 179 

to become one of the ablest defenders of the 
risen Arminius, living in modern times. The 
vanity of parents is no uncommon thing ; but 
my father appears to me to have his full share. 

Uncle N. — Should certain things that I have 
written, be published, some readers might wish 
to know more respecting your father, and others 
introduced, than they would find in my book ; 
but with me, the main thing is Strict Agreement 
with God in his Word^ and have all else sub- 
ordinate. 

Simon. — Doubtless, that is best, in this age, 
not of such improvement as is pretended, but 
emphatically one of Arminian backsliding. 

Uncle N. — As I understand your father that 
he has some difficulty in meeting your argu- 
ments against Arminianism, will you please to 
give me a specimen of your reasoning on the 
subject ? 

Simon. — Most cheerfully. I inquired of my 
father, If one of Christ's members should perish, 
whether the gates of hell would not prevail 
against his church. He replied. If one of 
Christ's members, being, of course, a constitu- 
ent part of his church, should cease to be such, 
it would not be his church, or any part of it, 
against which the gates of hell would prevail, 
for said part would no longer belong to his 
church. I replied. Then, if all Christ's mem- 
bers should perish, the gates of hell could never 

12 



180 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

prevail against his church, because it would be 
out of existence. He answered. That God has 
somehow made it certain, that either some gen- 
eral or particular number of Christ's members 
will eternally so remain. I said. Father, you 
are forced, as a last resort, to fasten on the 
fundamental principle of Calvinism, to save 
your Arminian Church from utter ruin. Thus 
Arminianism, lighter than vanity , kicks the beam 
in a flash. As in the jaws of death, the Arminian 
is caught by his own devices, and as an Ar- 
minian, he can never escape. My father, 
though I am a sinner, I respect you much; but 
your perishable religion, I can never esteem. 
Why not unite with me in saying, '' Tekel,'' 
Arminian, as such^ " Thou art weighed in the 
balances, and art found wanting !'' All the good 
that thou hast, thou stolest from thy slandered 
brother, the Calvinist, against whom thy ha- 
tred is murderous. 

On election and perseverance^ I inquired, 
What is the difference between Arminians and 
Romanists ? who say in their Douay Bible — 
notes on Rom. 11 : 20, 22, ^' We see here that 
he who standeth by faith may fall from it ;— Not 
that the whole church of Christ can ever fall 
from him ; having been secured by so many 
divine promises in holy writ ; but that each 
one in particular may fall ; and therefore all 
in general are to be admonished to beware of 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 181 

that which may happen to any one in particu- 
lar." This is Romanism from the fountain- 
head ; and is it not genuine Arminianism ? 
My father, unless I misjudge, it misguides you 
inconceivably more than you are aware. Do I 
mistake ? Catholics add to a sentence just 
quoted, viz : " We see here that he Vvho stand- 
cth by fiiith may fall from it ; and therefore 
must live in fear and not in the vain presump- 
tion and security of modern sectaries." My 
father, often have I heard you say, Amen^ to 
such doctrine, and thus in fact, aid in the war 
of Romanists, against whom? evidently against 
Calvinists. Do not Romish doctrines and a 
Romish spirit^ coincide ? You know that Lo- 
ren, in his Cosmopolitan, maintains that Meth- 
odist Episcopacy^ as far as it goes, is, bona fide, 
Romanism. Didn't he hit the nail on the 
head ? So corrupt and corrupting is Roman- 
ism, would it not be well to be cautious about 
adopting Romish dogmas, though called Ar- 
minian ? Again, I ask, what is the difference 
betw^een Arminian and Romish " free ivill?'' 
made prominent in the notes of the Douay 
Bible. So cut loose from divine agency and 
protection is "- Free Will," as never to be safe 
from eternal damnation, till entering into some- 
thing unchangeable beyond the grave ; and I 
have yet to learn that such "Free WilV 
would be safe in heaven. Could your '' Free 



182 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Will," in tnith say. Heaven is my keeper? 
why not, with the Calvinist, avouch that they, 
and they only, are safe, whose Keeper is the 
Lord ? Is not the main question between 
Calvinists and Arminians, whether God, or a 
treacherous Free Will, has the chief control in 
our moral universe ? Between these tw^o sys- 
tems. Moderate Calvinists, in principle or 
practice, or in both, attempt an intermediate 
^course ; but is not this as absurd as to make 
€hrist essentially intermediate between human 
and divine ? Except nodding a hearty assent to 
my last question, my father made me no reply, 
but looked as if desiring the power of the Rev- 
elator's great red dragon, to devour me in a 
moment. Afterward, I overheard him tell 
Elder Hopewell what holy indignation he had 
against Simon for his most '' damnable here- 
sies," as denominated by the apostle Peter. 

Uncle A^.— The church is Christ's body, of 
which, he is the Head, for the destruction of 
which, Satan has made most desperate efforts ; 
at all hazards, he is determined, with the help 
of Arminianism, to have Christ's body mutilated 
on earth, and, if possible, in heaven ; but God 
has made a decree, that * altereth not,' that 
literally, and spiritually^ unless Arminians can 
make literal more important than spiritual — I 
say a decree^ that ''A bone of him shall not be 
broken,'' In earth, in heaven, in life and in 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD, 183 

death, this Head looks out well for all the 
members; yet Arminians, if successful, secure 
the eternal ruin of much, that, but for these 
self-determinators, would forever belong to the 
body of Christ. In destroying the members 
once under the care of this glorious Head, Ar- 
minian schemers are mightier than Jupiter 
with all his thunderbolts, though heated for an 
age in the furnace of Vulcan, his blacksmith 
of a god employed in forging them. Such is the 
genius of their scheme, but Jehovah is against 
it. 

Simon. — Tliis is the reason why satan is an 
Arminian with unbridled ''free will/' Is it 
not ? 



CHAPTER XYIII, 

CONGREGATIONALISM THE ONLY SCRIPTURAL 
CHURCH ORGANIZATION. 

The next evening, at Simon's request, Uncle 
Nathan gave his views on the following topic, 
saying, " Christ is Head over all things to the 
church," which has no inferior legislator. 
''The Head of every man is Christ." He 
saith, '' Go ye therefore, and (Greek) discipU^ 



184 UNCLE NATHAN; OR, 

all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of. the Holy 
Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you ; and lo, 
I am with you ahvay, even unto the end of 
the world." Again, " Let the elders that rule 
well," that faithfully inculcate by precept and 
example, ' whatsoever Christ has commanded, 
— ' be counted Vv^orthy of double honor, (double 
compensation,) especially they who labor in 
word and doctrine." 

No ecclesiastic, or ecclesiastical council, 
should ever adjudicate for Csesar, or God — 
never ^ lis being ''lords over God's heritage;" 
for, from lords, as men speak, there is ?io ap- 
peal, — ''There be — lords many; but to us 
there is but one God, — and one Lord, Jesus 
Christ," who saith, " Ye know that the prin- 
ces of the Gentiles exercise lordship over 
them, — but it shall not be so among you; whoso- 
ever will be chief among you, let him-beyour 
servant." Yet little are his high behests heed- 
ed. All churches, and each member, should 
withdraw from every brother that ''walketh dis- 
orderly ;" let a disorderly brother be to the 
Christian as a heathen man and a publican ; 
yet admonish him with frateroal kindness. 
Christ has the same rules for each, and for all; 
to none, individually, or collectively, does he 
delegate lordship ; much less does he give his 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 185 

church a right to delegate it to any, whether 
Popes, or only Committees. He authorizes 
his people to settle differences among them- 
selves ; but not by constituting lords, who 
might require implicitly, at least, the confes- 
sion of an imputed lie that never was told. 
We have enough that is liable to abuse, with- 
out unauthorized ecclesiastical lords, from 
whom appeal is out of order. Each church, 
and ' every man shall bear his own burden, 
but lords would not be obliged to touch the 
grievous load with one of their fingers. The 
reason why Congregationalism alone, in its 
sijrplest form, is Scriptural, is because it is the 
only church organization that does not imply 
lordship, and sustaining it while denying the 
fact, shows that men have sought out many in- 
ventions. 

Lordly censure is not always among the 
mildest of penalties ; nor does lordly excuse- 
Hon answer a much better purpose. If lord- 
ship is not predicable of the form of organiza- 
tion, why complain of the lordship of having a 
Pope ? The divine opposite of popery is Con- 
gregationalism. 

God has so constituted us, that the differ- 
ence in principle and effect, on the ignorant 
and them that are out of the way, between 
being judged by s^feio, or by a//, is ' heaven- 
ivide," This is not limited to being judged ec- 



186 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

clesiastically . '^ If therefore, the whole church 
be come together into one place, and all speak 
with tongues, and there come in those that are 
unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say- 
that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and 
there come in one that believeth not, or one 
unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged 
of all ; and thus are the secrets of his heart 
made manifest; and so falling down on his 
face, he will worship God, and report that God 
is in you of a truth/' The republican. Scrip- 
tural principle of being judged, not by a/ew;, 
but by all^ among peers, is of general applica- 
tion, and holds perfectly good in ecclesiastical 
government. Congregationalism should not be 
rejected for the reason that what lacks the soul 
is lifeless^ provided it is not soulless by nature. 
Lords ^ like the one '^ on whose hand the king 
leaned," may have life^ but it is not of the 
right sort. That the accused can appeal from 
inferior to superior lords, changes not the 
principle of lordship. 

Simon. — I suspect that lords over God's 
heritage would choose to exercise lordship, 
rather than meet your arguments. 



STRICT AGREEIVIENT WITH GOD. 187 



CHAPTER XIX, 



SYMPATHETIC REGRET; AND ALLEGED HAPPY 
DEATH OF A RICH MAN. 

In conversation, Simon said, With my fath- 
er, I once went to a protracted meeting, in a 
neighborhood of nominal Calvinists, who, for 
some time, had attended Arminian meetings, 
because they were near, and cost them com- 
paratively nothing. 

A rich man, Esq. Meanwell, a few months 
before, had moved from quite a distance into 
the place ; but his consumption could not be 
cured, and he died while we were there. 
Those Arminian Calvinists sympathized deeply 
with Esq. Meanwell, saying. That had God 
given him a gracious ability, and suffered him 
to begin his own personal election, of all men, 
he would have been foremost in the work of 
salvation. So he appeared to them. The case 
was so peculiar, that many opined he must 
have been afflicted with some unaccountable 
lack of ability. I dreamed it out as follows : 



188 UNCLE NATHAN; OR, 

An eminent council of surgeons performed a 
post mortem examination. It was ascertained 
that Esq. Meanwell died with the full spoon of 
salvability in his mouth, and reaching to the 
door of his heart, as it is written, '^ The word 
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy 
heart.'' So much had Esq. Meanwell been 
given to self gratification, that his heart and 
palate were found close together ; and so hard 
had the cup. of salvation been pressed to his 
lips, that they were bloodshot in death. Num- 
bers stood round weeping over his sad destiny. 
At length the secret was revealed, as it w^as 
discovered that he had devoured '' the poor se- 
cretly,'' till he could not swallow a drop of the 
water of life, to save himself, or the universe. 
The next month, Uncle Nathan received a 
letter from J^Ir. Canfield, as follows : 

Rev. and dear Sir :■ — You are apprized that 
Judge Creamer has long had the bad reputation 
of seducing many of the fair. He was once 
known as offering to leave his own wife, and 
abscond with a beautiful damsel ; but she re- 
fused, lie ground the face of multitudes of 
the poor, till their friends wept over them more 
bitterly than for the death of a first born. 
Through his oppression and cruelty, many a 
weeping widow, working till midnight, heard 
her child cry, Ma, do give me some bread ! 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 189 

She was forced to say, My child, I have no 
bread that I can give. Ma, I am cold ! She 
would go and spread over her child her last 
ragged quilt, saying, My darling, I hope this 
will keep you warm. Such is only a speci- 
men of the character of that rich man, as far 
as appears, while he lived. Tet in the last 
year of his life, without making any restitu- 
tion, he often w^ept like a child, and entreated 
widows famishing under his oppression, to pray 
for him. The day before he died, Eev. Dr. 
Bloomer, a moderate Calvinist, called there, to 
whom the Judge said, very earnestly, Dr., 
how can I lay hold on eternal life ? As tho' 
it were not the time then to preach moral in- 
ability, with all vehemence, yet in a soft tone, 
he urged the doctrine of natural ability, ad- 
ding. What you need especially, is, that some 
Elijah should offer for you the effectual prayer 
0^ faith. The Judge said, Dr., Can you, 
will you now offer for me such a prayer ? The 
Dr. replied, that his health was not good: that 
so exhausting would be the effort, that not- 
withstanding his lack of money, he w^ould 
rather give fifty dollars than perform such a 
labor of love. The sick man took the hint, 
and said, Such a prayer I must have, and with 
trembling hands took out a large, well-filled 
pocket-book from under his pillow, and gave 



190 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

the Dr. a bill, saying Here is your price. As 
Mrs. Creamer was then coming into the room, 
the Doctor slipped the bill into his own pocket- 
book in a hurry, without stopping to look at it 
through his spectacles, and knelt down and 
offered what he assured Judge Creamer is the 
prayer of faith, and went out immediately. 

An hour after, Bishop Goodenough called, 
to whom the Judge said. Bishop, I fear I am 
beyond the reach of prayer ! I hope not, said 
the Bishop. To get u good hope, like father 
Abraham, you must hope against hope, with 
such a hope as you have. The faith of the un- 
believer is what helps him to faith that is sav- 
ing ; as our best men have infallibly taught in 
the conclusion of our ''Plain Definition of 
Saving Faith,'' as follows, " There is a God, 
who will call us to an account for our sins, 
and who spares us that we may ' break them 
off by repentance.' And their cordial believ- 
ing of this truth will make way for their receiv- 
ing the higher truths that stand between them 
and the top of the mysterious ladder of truth. 
I grant it is impossible they should leap at 
once to the middle, much less to the highest 
round of the ladder ; but if the foot of it is 
upon the earth, in the very nature of things, 
the lowest step is within their reach, and by 
laying hold of it, they may go on hom faith to 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 191 

faith ^ till they stand firm even in the Christian 
faith, if distinguishing grace has elected them 
to have the Christian gospel." 

Judge C. — Is the nether part of your ladder 
made of anything better than " miry clay' ' only 
sunbeat ? 

Bish. — It is considered perfectly safe by all, 
except some over-grown monsters called Calvin- 
ists. Fear not. Put forth your gracious ability, 
then God will help you. If you help yourself, 
and pray, Christ wdll aid you soon. 

Judge C. — I know Christ will help me, if I 
believe as well as I can. 

Bish, — That is exactly the thing ; hold on 
to that, and strive for more. 

Judge C, — Glory to God ! I have now 
learned, certes^ that I have a gracious ability. 

Bish, — Amen. Glory to God. 

Judge C. — Do pray to God to aid my gra- 
cious ability, at once ! 

After prayer, the Bishop said. Judge, I hope 
you can say that you are willing to die. 

Judge C, — yes, I am willing to die. Glory 
to God. The Bishop echoed. Glory to God ! 

The Judge put a fifty- dollar bill into the 
hands of the Bishop, and said. Sir, I must die 
soon, and my dying request is that you will 
preach my funeral sermon. 

Bish, — The Lord help me. I will. 

I watched with the Judge that night, which 



192 UNCLE KATHAN ; OR, 

proved to be his last. About an hour before 
he died he said to me, Mr. Canfield, iu my life, 
I have made some trifling mistakes, that haunt 
me so much, I wish to die and be forever out 
of their reach. I said, Judge Creamer, is 
Christ in you the^ hope of glory? The 
Judge looked up, closely inspecting my coun- 
tenance, and saying, Christ in me ? What do 
you mean, Mr. Canfield ? I hope Christ will 
save me from helL These were his last 
words. 

Bishop Goodenough's text at the funeral, was 
Ps. 37 : 37, last clause, — '' for the end of that 
man is peace." He proved that Judge Cream- 
er's end is peace, because, Glory to God, he was 
so willino- to die. as soon as he was correctlv 
taught the way of salvation. The Bishop said, 
moreover. Behold the tears of weeping widows 
before you, bewailing their irreparable loss of 
a kind friend in the death of Judge Creamer. 
Those vfidows sobbed. See, said the Bishop, 
see for yourselves, my friends, these infallible 
tokens of unfeigned grief. I myself am a wit- 
ness before God, of the liberality of that good 
man, whose end is peace, and whose body, 
(there in the coffin,) will rise in glory in the 
morning of the resurrection. 

True, widows were at the funeral, weeping, 
alas, over their heart-breaking wrongs. Dr. 
Bloomer offered the closing prayer, withal. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 193 

thanking God for the substantial value of the 
prayer of faith, and beseeching Him, that 
widows and orphans, and the bereaved com- 
munity, though they would have saved their 
invaluable friend from death and the grave^ 
may say, Not our will, but thine be done. 

The Bishop said, Amen. The Lord help. 

The next day after the funeral, Dr. Bloomer 
gave Widow Creamer a polite call and request- 
ed her to rectify the mistake of forty-five dol- 
lars, as he had just ascertained. She said she 
heard the Judge say, Here is your price ; and 
she admitted no mistake. Besides, it should 
be For value received ; but the Judge, said 
she, died just as he lived ; therefore you can 
sustain no action in law. As the Dr. was af- 
firming that he could In came Bishop 

Goodenough, and said, Could? fov ivhat? 
For his prayer of faiths said the widow ; then 
she told the whole story, but the Doctor did not 
stay to hear it. Said the Bishop, An hour ago, 
I was at the Bank, and ascertained that the 
fifty-dollar bill that your husband gave me be- 
forehand, to preach his funeral sermon, is coun- 
terfeit ! I have a claim For value received; so 
much shall I have to suffer on account of my 
funeral eulogy, for it is snuffed at by many. 

Mrs. C. — I don't thank you. Bishop, for 
coming here to slander the dead. 

Bish. — But you will (lesire me to prepare an 



194 UNCLE NATHAN; OR, 

Obituary notice of your husband's virtues, and 
happy death ? 

Mrs. C. — Yes, if you will take a five-dollar 
bill to settle the whole. 

Bish. — Agreed, and bless God for that ; 
though I believe you might give me fifty dol- 
lars, and die none the poorer. 

The Bishop prepared the inscription that 
was put on the grave-stone ; it reads, 

HERE LIE 
THE REMAINS OF THE MUCH LAMENTED 

JUDGE CREAMER, 

WHO WAS MORE THAN WILLING TO DIE. 

''The end of that man is peace/' 

A lad that some called arch, with a piece of 
charcoal, wrote over the grave-yard gate, 

Let aU believe ; for Scripture terms we use. 
Almighty dollars save,* though Heaveu refuse. 

Another lad added. 

Here lie the dead, and here the living lie, 
Who vrish like favors, when they come to die. 

When Widow Creamer had read the compli- 
ant inscription on the grave-stone, she gave 
five dollars more to Bishop Goodenough, who 
said, '' Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich ;" 
with brother Paul, I can rejoice; like him, " I 

* Money answereth all things. (Eccl. 10 : 19.) 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GODo 195, 

have all, and abound ; I am full/' Blessed be 
God ! Some speak ill of the dead— yes, ill of 
the worthy Judge Creamer ; but I sayj Peace 
to his ashes ; (saying to himself, the favor of 
the rich is not to be despised.) 

Thus you see. Uncle Nathan, as we have 
before conversed, Dr. Bloomer's pure moderate 
Calvinism, and Bishop Goodenough's pure 
Arminianism, like Johnson's ^pure wickedness,^ 
are as pure in death, as in life. Whatever other 
purity the Doctor or Bishop may have, as men 
eras Christians, is not here the question. I have 
been credibly informed that the Arminian is 
the father of the moderate Calvinist, and the 
mother is a bond woman named Agar, and the 
child is a spurious offspring, not renowned for 
good sense, his Calvinism being adscititious. 

To-day I received a line from Simon Good- 
enough, saying, that when he went home from 
your house, he found his frowning father at a 
great meeting; and that himself, as '4ess than 
the least of all saints,'' is now at Bethel, study- 
ing, and participating in a precious revival. 
Simon writes. The zeal of the Arminian is such, 
that he has no occasion to say, in so many 
words, '^ Come, see my zeal for the Lord/^ for 
none can well help seeing and hearing it man- 
ifested ; but the Calvinist will not stir^ come 
life or death, till he sees his way clear ; then 
as ^ a lion's whelp^ he shall leap from Bashan/ 
IS 



196 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

and nothing can stared before him. Were you 
here in Bethel, you would soon discover why I 
make these remarks. My father, alas ! acts as 
though he could never forgive me for being a 
Calvinist. But that a real Arminian is not a 
Gallio respecting Calvinism, is not very strange. 
-And you, Simon,' said my grieved father, al- 
luding to what C^sa:' said to Brutus, who gave 
him the fatal stab. 

Mrs. Canfield sends you her best respects, 
hoping that you will hold on your way. The 
children send you much love, and ask, When 
is Uncle Nathan coming ? 

Yours in Christian love, 

Amos Canfield. 

Uncle Nathan. 

In- answering this letter, Uncle Nathan 
wrote, 

Dear Sir, — During my life, I have seen 
and heard, in essence, all that you have written, 
and I mistake much, if -multitudes have not 
discovered more than I have, of essentially the 
same. It has been said by them of old time, 
that death makes men honest ; but the repre- 
sentative of such as die in their sins, viz : the 
impenitent thief on the cross, evidently died as 
he lived, whatever confessions might have been 
extorted from him, in life, or in death. ^' Yea, 
also the heart of the sons of men is full of evil 



SmiCT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 19T 

and madness is in their heart, while they live 
— (yea, lohile they live;) and after that they go 
to the dead." Their spiritual madness spoken 
and acted out, when faithfully recorded^ many 
call incredible^ while here and there one better 
informed declares that fact is stranger than fic- 
tion. Alas for spiritual guides having nothing 
better than a perishable religion, and whose 
presumptuous self-election, whether good or 
bad, must needs govern that of Jehovah ! In 
life, and in death, from such leaders of the 
blind, may the Lord deliver us. No close ob- 
server of men, in looking out under the eaves of 
Calvinism, can fail to perceive that the genius 
of Arminianism, offspring as it is of Popery, 
and of moderate^ i. e., betwixt and between 
Calvinism and Arminianism, is not a little 
Jesuitical. Such a Genius may do well to be 
somewhat cautious about kicking, lest he should 
^' kick against the pricks." 

Many have wildly conjectured that Armin- 
ian and Calvinistic thunderers have been ar- 
rayed against each other almost for nothing, 
but future catastrophes will teach another lesson. 
'' Satan himself — transformed into an angel of 
light," is too much of a Romish Arminian, to 
give up beat in a hurry ; and if Calvinism is 
not proof against more than all the thunders of 
Jupiter, it may as well perish forever. As we 
have seen, the Romanist is thoroughly Armin- 



198 ^ UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

Ian, and whether the Lord calls him a man, or a 
beast, he adheres, as for life, to his Arminian 
godship, and as sure as birds of a feather con- 
gregate, incorrigible Arminians will all event- 
ually be found in the same grand division, and 
for lohat 7 Saith the Eevelator, '^ I saw the 
beast and the kings of the earth, and their ar- 
mies gathered together, to make war against 
him that sat on the horse and against his army." 
An absolute sovereign, they would gladly de- 
pose, and place '' Free Will^'' on the throne. 

Again, as you and I understand the subject^ 
the greatest error of the worldly Judge Cream- 
er — not a sinner above all men, — of the Ar- 
minian Bishop, and of the pseudo-Calvinistic 
Bloomer, is having only a destructible religion, 
like that'of the man who complained that he 
was a jail-bird for his religion, when, in truth, 
he had none at all ; but those having abiding 
faith with corresponding good works, of course, 
are rightly reckoned only as Calvinists of the 
true stamp. The Arminian's heart condemns 
him on the score of his perishable religion; then 
why should he complain when judged out of 
Ms own mouth? But multitudes^ many of 
whom perhaps unconsciously to themselves beg 
the question, falsely assuming that Arminianism 
and Arminian Calvinism, may be nearly half 
right, do bitterly detest the foregoing account 
givcB of Bishop Goodenough, and of Doctor 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 199^ 

Bloomer, if they do not deeply sympathize with 
the notorious Judge Creamer. Yet these con- 
doled representatives of corrupt systems, by no 
means manifest a heart worse than ^' deceitful 

above all things and desperately wicked, 

only evil continually,'' full of enmity against 
God and man ; — those systems are like Jere- 
miah's figs ; if good, they are very good ; if 

not, they are very '^ naughty ; neither can a 

corrupt tree bring forth good fruit." 

Much has been said of the immense, good 
done by Arminianism. -Unquestionably the 
anti-predestinating wrath of the Arminian 
praises God, Say, that in the hot-bed of his sys- 
tem, myriads of plants of righteousness spring 
up and flourish ; what is the product from the 
seeds of the said famously good fruit-bearer ? 
As being in the hand of God, who can tell the 
unbounded good done by the enemy of all 
riofhteousness? ''If the truth of God hath more 
abounded through my lie unto his glory, why 
yet am I also judged as a sinner ?" Tried by 
this test, what apostle was ever better than 
Judas ? w'hat angel better than Satan ? If 
Calvinism has nothing superior to this to re- 
commend it, why may it not be the quintessence 
of all evil ? That the wicked are hardened by 
Calvinism, is far from being proof against it ; 
for Christ is a ''Stone of stumbling, and a 
Rock of oiafence, even to them which stumble 

IS* 



200 UNCLE NATHAN; OR, 

stuilible at the word, being disobedient, where- 
unto also they were appointed ;" but this is no 
proof against Jesus. 

We see why Catholic Arminians abound, for 
requiring no change of nature, in effect, en- 
couraged to exercise deadly hatred against pre- 
destinators as such — so Esaus elect themselves 
to salvation, implicitly claiming that all heaven 
ratifies the act ; yet their sovereign Free Will 
makes them apostates ; still they multiply like 
locusts, so easy and popular is the getting of 
a name to live, their proof of piety obtruding 
itself in^' bodily exercise." 

Look at the Arminian advocate of '^ Free 
Grace," as he presents himself in one entire 
paragraph. 

-'^26. This is the blasphemjr clearly con- 
tained in the horrible decree of predestination. 
And here I fix my foot. On this I join issue 
with every asserter of it. You represent God 
as worse than the Devil ; more false, more 
cruel, more unjust. * But you say you will 
prove it by Scripture.' Hold! What will 
you prove by Scripture ? That God is worse 
than the devil ? It cannot be. Whatever 
that Scripture proves, it never can prove this. 
Whatever its true meaning be, this cannot be 
its true meaning. Do you ask, ^ What is its 
true meaning then V If I say, ' I know not/ 
you have gained nothings For there are many 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 201 

Scriptures, the true sense whereof neither you 
nor I shall know, till death is swallowed up in 
victory. But this I know, better it were to 
say, it had no sense at all, than to say it had 
such a sense as this. It cannot mean, what- 
ever it mean besides, that the God of truth is 
a liar. Let it mean what it will, it cannot 
mean, that the Judge of all the world is un- 
just. No Scripture can mean that God is not 
love, or that his mercy is not over all his works 
— that is, whatever it prove beside, no Scrip- 
ture can prove predestination/' (Is this par- 
agraph '^ sectarian ?") 

The inquiry of the Calvinist is. What does 
Scripture teach, withal, on predestination ? re- 
specting which, the Arminian upholder of 
^' Free Grace," says of '' Scripture, ~I know, 
better it w^ere to say, it had no sense at allp 

than to say it had such a sense as this, — 

that is, whatever it prove beside, no Scripture 
can prove predestination." Only substituting 
for ''^ predestination," the endless punishment 
of all wdcked apostates ; the fundamental rule, 
on these points, adopted by both the Arminian 
vindicator of '^Free Grace," and by Univer- 
salists, Infidels and Atheists, is precisely the 
same, as these maintain respecting Scripture. 
We *^ know, better it were to say, it had no 
sense at all, than to say it had such a sense as 
this^ — —that is, whatever it prove beside, no 



202 UNCLE NATHAN ; OE5 

Scripture can prove" endless punishment. In 
other words, the Arminian defender of '^ Free 
Grace/' by his own position, is really a Freely 
Gracious Dictator professing to teach what 
Scripture should, or should not contain on the 
material point. Though he argues, his dogma 
proves that v/ith him, argument is out of the 
question, for predestinating Scripture, to him, 
is no Scripture at all. If offending in this one 
essential thing, (Jam. 2 : 10,) viz., if Jiaters 
of a God of Scriptural predestination, are cast 
away ; then what will become of Arminian 
supporters of ''Free Grace," provided Armin- 
ianism is their chariot of salvation ? They 
may well beware, unless they demonstrate that 
a personally predestinating God does not exist ; 
yet if I may judge from my own experience 
and observation, Arminianism will last while 
^^ The carnal mind is enmity against God.'^ 
That billions called Arminians, or Komanists 
even, have gone honestly to heaven, changes 
not the truth or falsehood of Romish, or Free- 
ly Gracious Arminianism, or of Calvinism, in 
principle, or practice; but satan is none too good 
to make false issues. May none help him. 

As you have requested me to speak and 
write on baptism^ without reserve, you will al- 
low me to add. Baptists have cried, The Greek! 
THE Gkeek ! ! but the ruin of their scheme will 
be a thorough knowledge of Scriptural, He- 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 203 

brew divinityj in whatever trai:isparent garb 
of languageo Jesus ^ a Jew^ said, '' Salvation 
is of the Jews.'' The great apostle of the 
Gentiles was not writing to Jews, or in their 
language, when he said. ^^ Are they Hebrews? 
So am L'[ The Hebrew sense remains un- 
changed, giving place to no other, in any age 
or nation For example, the Biblical Greek 
word for humble^ has a Hebrew, not a Greek 
meaning ; and all with good reason, for the 
morals, religion and gods of the heathen, are 
vanity and a lie, as exhibited in their language; 
not so with the Bible. With propriety, we 
may say, Come, conscionable Baptists, call up 
all the old pagan Greeks, and have them pre- 
cisely as they were when they lived on earth, 
and in their own Greek, talk to them respect- 
ing the baptism of the Holy Ghost, Christian 
baptism and baptism from heaven, and you 
and they are as much confounded as were the 
builders of Babel. Be Biblical, then your 
Greek is so impregnated with Hebrew, that not 
a soul of them understands it, and all distract- 
ed go back to their graves as soon as did Sam- 
uel from the witch at En-dor. Call up the 
Hebrew apostles as they were, and are, and 
say to them, as writers of the New Testament, 
^ In sense^ ye are Greeks^ and so are we.' Be- 
hold them all dumb with astonishment, not one 
of them testifies in your favor ; the meaning 



\ 

204 UNCLE NATHAN; OR, 

of their testimtoy is all against you. Proving 
subdipping baptism^ however plausible, from a 
profane, pagan use of baptizo^ is forever out of 
the question. What, for instance, can be 
proved respecting the action or mode of ohserv- 
ing the Passover, from the original meaning of 
the phrase Pass over ? Instead of passing 
over, and sparing the Paschal lamb, the di- 
vine command was to kill it, and eat the flesh, 
and sprinkle the blood. Moses and the Apostles 
can never be induced to favor subdipping pros- 
pective communicants. Having learned from 
them that sprinkling is the only Scriptural mode 
of baptism, and knowing that baptism is pre- 
requisite, to communion ; attempt to proselyte 
them to close communion. They reply, '' For- 
bearing one another in love,— Him that is 
weak in the fliith, receive ye, but not to doubt- 
ful disputations." To any one peculiarly zeal- 
ous in proselyting, they say, ^' What God hath 
cleansed, that call not thou common.— Who art 
thou that judgest another man's servant ? to 
his own master he standeth or falleth ; yea he 
shall be holden up ; for God is able to make 
him stand." 

Hoping to see you all soon. I remain in the 
Lord your servant ^^^^^^^^ ' 

Mr, A. Canfield. 

P. S. May our severity be that only of 
truth in love. U. N. 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH OOD. 205 

Uncle Nathan also dreamed that the house 
in which he was born was infested with a 
*' fretting leprosy/' having some relation to 
the hue of the skin^ giving rise to a question 
known to have a number of bad sides ; such as 
maintained that it has a good side, had not the 
wisdom to choose that good for themselves. A 
^' compromise '' was made with '^ the prince of 
the power of the air," — with ''the rulers of the 
darkness of this world," to confine the ''fretting 
leprosy" within its present limits; but the 
^'compromise" shared the doom of a 'secret too 
good to be kept.' What waked up Uncle Na« 
than was hearing a law " by the disposition of 
angels," to this effect, " Break down the houses 
the stones of it, and all the mortar of the house, 
and carry them forth out of the cily into an 
unclean place," call it Men-stealers' Tophet. 
Many ask how is this colored leprosy to be 
removed ? Answer ; only by acting under the 
conviction that its timely removal is essential 
to the salvation of the house ; the appropriate 
measures to be used always depending upoa 
circumstances. 



206 UNCLE NATHAN ; On^ 



CHAPTER XX. 

WAITING GOD'S TIME; SUNDRIES, AND OLD BILL 
OF RIGHTS, 

One day, Uncle Nathan found a man of four 
score and ten, smoking tobacco^ He didn't 
believe in man-made religion, not he^ but was 
waiting God's time — was quite willing to wait, 
while he could get a plenty of that precious 
weed, — and said, that having lived long in the 
world, as»an old man, he* was prepared to give 
the best of counsel ; that he had heard all sorts 
of preaching, but found none worth hearing, 
except such as doUs csll Antino?nian ; and just 
before that old man died, he exclaimed, Alas ! 
I see it is forever too late ! 

While looking forward to future events, Un- 
cle Nathan fell asleep, and in dreaming, saw 
creation on a blaze, and heard crashing as of 
colliding worlds, and heard unutterable cries 
of, On J ON to the last great battle, — the thun- 
ders of '^ the man of sin " having slept long in 
mysteriously combined elements, had waked up 
more wrathfuUy than ever before ; the great 
crisis had long been foreseen^ and to meet it 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 207 

effeotually, ^' Free Will'' warring against the 
predestinating Infinite, was frantic to despera- 
tion. The Holy One choosing not so to bind 
even the mightiest of his foes with infrangible 
chains, as to prevent them from ftiiiiy trying 
their strength and skill:— often as they had 
admitted that their rock is not as our Kock in 
any desirable sense ; yet where they found 
most liberty, and promised most, there they 
j)lotted the most infernal cruelty in Jehovah's 
creation. Uncle Nathan awoke after he saw 
^^Free Will'' apprehended, and his doom writ- 
ten and sealed up, to be revealed in the final 
judgment. 

At a tune when all was as^ still as before an 
earthquake, Uncle Nathan dreamed, that from 
every direction, he heard woe^ against all that 
are at ease, or occasioUvally ill at ease in Zion, 
uttered in thunderous tones that shook the 
universe ; in an instant, it wmked him up, and 
for hours, he trembled exceedingly, and the 
hope in him that he should rest in the day of 
trouble, assuaged not his anguish in view of 
Zion made desolate by the non-revival prayers 
and corresponding efforts of those having a 
name to live, but living more for earth than for 
heaven. 

Again, Uncle Nathan dreamed of being on a 
journey, and coming near to large clusters of 
seats 'of impious lore, that in a grave-yard, he 

14 . .^ •- :,.^li 



208 UNCLE NATHAN ; OR, 

saw a multitude of people, and Deacon Godfear 
near the highway^ looking on with intense in- 
terest ; of him, he inquired, whom the people 
were burying. Nobody, he replied ; but they 
were making mighty efforts to raise Dr. Colepit 
to be the representative to worlds known, and 
unknown, of multifarious legions of profound 
iheologasters too mystical to be described, — by 
some Galled ^Time^ religious quacks of all sorts., 
abounding in ''great svv^eliing words of vanity," 
imagined to be a spurious brood generated in 
numberless conflicting ages ; — that the grave 
was opened wide, to give the Doctor the best 
possible opportunity to rise ; that his admirers 
had cut up most of his grave-clothes to cover 
their base progeny, i.e., to conceal their suspi- 
cious tenets, they were adroit in using the Doc- 
tor's theological stereotyped lingo*, that out- 
lasted his life, and graced him when dead. 

Uncle N. — -Have you any familiar acquaint- 
ance with Dr. Colepit ? 

Dea. G. — By no means ; from all that taint 
the atmosphere naturally, or morally, I aim to 
keep aloof. Last year, one of my neighbors 
was frightened nearly to death, dreaming that 
he heard the hissing of the old serpent, Satan, 
taken by a strong angel ready to bind him out 
to Dr. Colepit ; but so much did the angel pity 
the old culprit, that he put him under bonds 
for good behavior to the amount of '' all the 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. .209 

kingdoms of the ^Y0lid5 and the glory of them," 
and compelled him to liye on dust alone. 

TJnch N. — What, and why is all this ? 

Dea. G. — The piide of false opinion^ insep- 
arable from religiGus quackery^ made Satan 
what he is ; and as a sort of burnt child, he 
dreaded to be bound out to the Doctor, so he 
obtained of the angel the commutation just 
mentioned ; he was told that if any thing could 
make him loathe sin, it would be living in the 
Doctor's family, but Satan had no faith in the 
remedy. 

U?2cle N. — What was the Doctor's drift in 
life ? 

Dea. G. — His aim, it is said, was to reach, 
and help regulate some new elysium alleged 
about to be created somewhere beyond the 
third heavens. He declared the v/ay to be 
facile for giants, who could easily carry the 
rest as predicted^ viz., ^^they shall fly upon 
the shoulders of the (gigantic) Philistines;'' 
that these followed on, intending to call at 
Paradise for refreshment ; but that the torches 
designed for the enterprize, all turned so blue, • 
that the eagle-eyed were not alittle bewildered; 
yet 091 they w^ent in darkness. 

Uficle TV".— Please explain. 

Dea, G.— The spirit of inriGvation predom- 
inant among jirime theologastersj is not only 
dangerously extravagant, but their temper, if 



210 UNCLE NATHAN ; OE, 

possible, is worse than infernal; yet Dr. Cole- 
pit's tribes are not the only pest. Wrong con- 
servatives are usually not much better. They 
would stay and defend a Purgatory of their 
own, rather than go to -'new heavens, and a 
new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." 

A few months ago. my friend. Dr. Episcopos, 
made me a present of a prayer-book, which I 
have examined with considerable interest. 

Uncle N, — Yv^iat is your opinion of the Epis- 
copal scheme ? 

Dea. G.— Much of it appears not a little 
Popish, and vast multitudes are guided mainly 
by appearances ; the scheme needs much ex- 
planation, but in explaining it. Episcopalians 
are suspiciously accGmrnodating. A society, 
on the whole, does not often rise above its own 
adopted principles ; and in modern times, like 
^^the man of sin/' Episcopalians have preach- 
ing '^ Priests j'' and names chosen are usually 
significant. The following as a position, in the 
prayer-book, is bold enough to be taken by the 
adversary ; yet the succedamuni is evidently 
designed to accommodate the scrupulous, thus,. 
'' Receive the Holy Ghost for the office and 
work of a Priest in the Church of God, now* 
committed unto, thee by the imposition of our 
hands : whose sins thou dost forgive, they are 
forgiven : and whose sins thou dost retain, 
they are retained:— -Or this:" (succedaneum:)^ 



STRICT AaPvEEMENT WITH GOD. 211 



" Take thou authority to execute the office of 
a Priest in the Church of God now com- 
mitted unto thee by the imposition of out 
hands." As far as I have been able to 
learn, this little compound, Episcopal leaven 
here exhibited essentially leavens the whole 
lumio of Eniscc^^aGY, that resembles the man 
that^ said hV " ^ ' ' ' 1 terms with God and 
with Satan, m, ...uMv.:.g into whose hands he 
should eventually fall. But I have promisea 
Dr. EDis.-^.c-oos, that I will be. an Episcopahan, 
when lie convinces me that Christ has three 
preaching orders in the ministry. The Doctor 
assvires me, he has strong faith that he shall 
succeed ; but as Job said, " It is not so with 
me ;" yet so it will be, if I discover the Epis- 
copal to be the Gospel system, respecting which 
Episcopalians seem very confident ; _ for m 
their " office of institution," their ministers 
say, " HOLY JESUS, who hast purchased, 
to thyself a universal church, and hast prom- 
ised to be witli the ministers of apostolic suc- 
cession to the end of the world." I ask. 
Is the Pojje' a " minister of apostolic succes- 
sion"? 

But among the greatest evils of the age is 
the foxship of private proselyting, eluding the 
light of face-to-face examination, thus making 
religion a game to be played, in the dark, at 
all hazards. Ask, "Is Christ divided ? The 

14* 



212 UNCLE iNATHAK ; OR* 



crafty reply, ' God forbid/ All Christians are 
united in hearty and thi^ is the essence of what 
is required, which we, as Christians, know by 
experience. Inj:^uire, why then the divine, 
withering rebuke implied in the question of 
^'Christ divided;" and some of them, in si- 
lence, look wiser than ever, while others, in 
vain, con their favorite expounders for a satis- 
factory answer. Christ is divided by those for 
whom the rebuke is intended, but they would 
fiiin deny this, because, as they would have it, 
he is not divided in hearty but only in under- 
standings and judgment ! What is this bUt 
making Christ a /oo/ / Look at the absurdity 
of having the heart and understandings going 
in opposite directions ; after all, their posses- 
sor not divided ! Yet hence the wolfish aid 
offered ris 'eyes to the blind, and feet to the 
lame ! Craftily, one says. Hear Jesus say, 
'^ Take ye, and eat; This is my body /' an- 
other suggests. See there ! " Jesus bap- 
tized of Jobn in Jordan;'' a third. speaks. Look 
at the doctrine taught in Scripture of the pos- 
sibility of having '' fallen from grace,'' Divi- 
ding the living Christ, with the offensive weap- 
on of sectarian carnality, is so much the vvorse, 
as ''the God of all grace," in his vv^ord, and Spir- 
it, has given us the means, and requires that 
in love, truth and knowledge, '' all speak the 
same thing;'' and so would men do. should 



STiXICT AGREEMENT Yv^iTlI GOD. 213 

they strive as hard to be thus united ^ as they 
do to be divided. 

Whatever may be done in a Commonwealth, 
yet in the kingdom of Christ, Scripture being 
the Guide, forever out of the question, is all 
blind compromise^ which has been sufficiently 
tried by '^ the man of sin," among his own 
subjects, to prove it to be '-evil, only evil, and 
that continually ;" but Biblical souls, as such, 
obey Christ's '^ new commandment" evidently 
designed to keep his friends united in heart, in 
understanding and judgment. Then Uncle 
Nathan awoke. 

After a '^ multitude of business,'' Uncle Na- 
than dreamed that under peculiar circumstan- 
ces, a man gave him a paper, the contents of 
which, as retained in memory, are as follow^s : 

Mr. Editor : Censoriousness has been the 
unpardonable sin of bigots, of every age. 
'^ Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants 
of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the 
heathen.'' Now it is a notorious historical 
fact, that when the heathen conquered a na- 
tion, they manifested a sacred regard for all 
sorts of religion. That the Grod of heaven 
would have us do better than the heathen, in 
every respect, requires no proof. One man 
honestly believes that Jehovah is Lord. Baal 
also means Lord; and for that bigot of a Na- 
than severely to censure men for v^orshipping 



214 UNCLE NATHAN ; OK, 

the Lord acoording to the dictates of their own 
consciences, is worse than impious. Avjay tvith 
" moral demGnstratiGu /" Lord is Lord^ 
whether it means Baal or Baalzebub; (the Lord 
of flies;) and Christ has said '' Judge not that 
ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye 
judge*, ye shall be judged."' Jesus said of him- 
self, I '^judge no man.- — If any man hear my 
words and believe not, I judge him not ; for I 
came not to judge the world, but to save the 
world." Who deserves to be an outlaio forever? 
if not the Zealot, who sets himself above his 
Lord^ and acts as Judge of men, that believe 
not as he believes? Christ has also said, 
^' Blessed are the Peace?nakers ; for they shall 
be called the children of God. « — —Follow peace 
Vvith all men," is the strict command of Jeho- 
vah. Nothing drives a man to desperation, 
like infringing on his religion. Micah^said to 
the Danites, '^Te have taken away my gods 
which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone 
away ; and v/hat have I more ? and what is 
this that ye say unto me. What aileth thee V 
and for saying, ^' That they be no Gods v/hich 
are made with hands," Paul came very near 
getting into serious trouble with the worship- 
ers of '^the great goddess Diana;" but that 
"hot-headed" Nathan, and his accomplices, 
are desperate in madly attacking what they treat 
as our false divinities ; and that is not all. 



STUICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 215 

Bishop Gooclenough often groans^ saying, that 
it would be a grievous cross for him to go to a 
Calvinistic heaven to meet his son Simon. Such 
a heaven, though said to be demonstrated as 
best, would complete our doom. 

Long have we been waiting for the dawning^ 
of a brighter day, w^hen '^ Ephraim shall not 
envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. 
-- — -The vvolf also shall dwell with the lamb,, 
and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; 
and the calf and the young lion, and the fatling^ 
together ; and a little child shall lead them." 
See hovv^ harmonious will be all sorts of reli» 
gionists, v/hen we shall have the daysof heav- 
en upon earth ; whether men w^orship Jehovah, 
or Jove. *' Present your bodies a living sacri- 
fice," is the divine injunction. To usher in 
the millenium in all its glory, we have only 
to present, as a Hiving sacrifice^' to what Lord^ 
our Conscience may direct, the ^body ' of every 
iron-bound bigot. 

John Peacemaker, 
and a host of like tvorthies.- 

Moreover, Uncle Nathan dreamed that Bish- 
op G-oodenough, and some others, called on 
him, and demanded the Key of Uncle Nathan. 
He replied. Uncle Tom w^as limited to a slavish 
dominion seen by comparatively few. Have 
you got the Key of John Bunyan's Pilgrim ? 



216 UNCLE NATHAN ; OKy 



Arminians, and otiier divining illuminators, are 
so well known 5 that all will judge of them, for 
themselves. Each has his own Key to your 
world-wide habitations. They replied, Give us 
the Key, or, woe to your soul ! 

Uncle iV.— Make your demand sufficiently 
loud and long; then multitudes will furnish 
you Vv^ith more Keys than ever belonged to any 
^successor of Peter. The reason is that Jrmin- 
ianism is bad. 

Uncle Nathan av/oke, and said to himself. 
Can what is for substance, reality, be dreams ? 
But they tallied so exactly with things that he 
had often witnessed, that he recorded them, and 
added, in 



CONCLUSION: 

Like fire and water, Truth and Error are 
ever at war, and can never harm:onize. The 
war of Truth, as well as that of error, is one of 
extermination. Truth would fill the earth with 
heaven. Error, however plausible, would make 
heaven the den of all dragons. 

The Lord never gave us " the sword of the 
Spirit,'' to be put into a scabbard, however 
fine, and carried about for a shoiv, or used for 
any dishonest cunning. '' The word of God 



STRICT AGREEMENT WITH GOD. 21T 

(as it is) is quick and powerfulj and sharper 
than any tvvo- edged sword, piercing even to 

the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 

xind is a discerner of the thoughts and intents 

of the heart. -The weapons of our w^arfare 

are mighty through God,— — casting down 

imaginations, and every high thing that exalt- 

eth itself against the knowledge of God, 

not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, 
saith the Lord of hosts ;— — and things which 
are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things 
which are not, to bring to nought things that 
are ; that no flesh should glory in his presence.'' 

The town clerk of Ephesus would say to all, 
*' Ye ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly." 

As we w^ould obey Christ, and be saved, we 
should be followers of no errorists ; in this 
sense, '' Let them alone ;'' still the wise must 
mingle wisely with the erroneous ; and holy 
women late and early at ♦the sepulchre, must 
speak and act as did holy women of old, to 
banish delusion from the world. Not that 
female modesty should be prostituted to any 
demon of error however popular, or be worse 
than imm.olated on the altar of a tumultuous 
revival. Alas for our world, vv^ere all females 
what the greatest of the apostles terms ^' silly 
women ' ' ! 

As ye would please God, says Uncle Na.- 
than, 



218 UNCLE NATHAN; OR, 

My good christian warriors, keep cool, — in 
the hottest of the battle, keep cool. '' looking 

unto Jesus. the Captain of our salvation, 

-—The middle wall of partition between'' his 
^'peoples," can never be coa:red down ; accord- 
ing to Scripture, now, as of old, it is to bo 
^^ blacken down. — ^— The kingdom of heaven 
suffereth violence'' — Christ-like violence; yet 
Jesus is " the Prince of peace;" and he would 
not be v>' ell pleased to have his friends make 
heaven jar with their discord ; while devils, 
whether noisy, or dumb, are careful not to be 
divided against themselves. 

Little children, be not afraid ; for errorists, 
though mightier than eternal Thunders and 
Earthquakes alive, are all bound by EmmanueL 
For the present, Adieu. 




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UNCLE NATHAN; 



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